Human right lawyer and
former Student Union activist, Barrister Ebun Olu Adegboruwa says contrary to
the statement credited to Lagos State Commissioner of Police Mr Fatai Owoseni,the
Police has no constitutional power to stop the proposed mass rally being
organized by pop star Tuface Idibia scheduled for 6th February 2017.
Read
his statement
I have read
reports credited to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police declaring that the
rally salted for Lagos on Monday February 6, 2017, will not hold. I consider
this to be an attempt to intimidate those who wish to partake in the rally,
otherwise it cannot be a message for us veterans and indeed the deprived,
oppressed and hungry people of Nigeria.
For the information of the police
commissioner, Nigeria is a democratic country governed strictly in accordance
with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. Section 39 of the Constitution
grants freedom of expression, including the right to be heard and to
disseminate information and ideas. Section 40 grants the right to associate and
gather together. Section 38 grants the right to freedom of movement and
peaceful assembly.
I believe that Mr Fatai Owoseni has
a copy of the Constitution, to guide his actions and utterances on this matter,
instead of threatening innocent and law abiding citizens, who are responsible
for his salary.
The issue of police permit for
citizens to gather freely, expired with the coming into force of the 1999
Constitution and we cannot now go back to the military era of shutting up
citizens from legitimate expressions.
I therefore urge the good people of
Nigeria, especially those who reside in Lagos, to join us en mass at Ikeja, for
the rally on February 6, 2017. We cannot be intimidated in our own country, by
the same people who are paid to protect us.
This is not a rally by miscreants or
thugs as to warrant the fears being expressed by the police commissioner. The
statutory duty of the police is to offer us protection on Monday and help to
maintain orderliness, throughout the period of the rally.
So come rain or shine, we shall hold
the rally on Monday, as scheduled, because it is illegal for the police to seek
to ban a lawful assembly.
Tags
Politics