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Veteran Nigerian lawyer Femi Falana accused the Lagos and Ogun state governments and the Federal Capital Territory Authority of rushing to the court for orders restricting protesters from moving to specific locations in the states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The veteran lawyer made the comments during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today program on Thursday evening.
According to a report by PUNCH Online, the state governments and the Federal Capital Territory have obtained court orders from the state and federal high courts restricting protesters from moving around in Freedom and Peace Parks in Ojota and Ketu areas of Lagos State and the People’s Mojahedin National Stadium in the Federal Capital Territory.
In Ogun State, the court restricted protesters to the MKO Stadium in Abeokuta, Ansar-ud-Deen Comprehensive Senior High School in Ota, Remo Divisional Senior High School in Sagamu and Dipo Dina Stadium in Ijebu-Ode.
Explaining the reasons why protesters went beyond the stipulated limit points for street marches, Falana said it could be said that the protesters did not receive a court order as the order was obtained 24 hours before the protest began on Thursday morning.
He said: “I think the government should learn not to rush to court on the eve of workers’ strike or youth protests because the difficulty with such orders is that they never reach those against whom the restrictions are sought.
“For example, the Lagos order was not served on anybody, the Ogun State order was not served on anybody, the Abuja order, I think one of the defendants was described as ‘unidentified person’. Now, how do you serve a court order on an unidentified person?”
He added that the government could designate protest sites, as other countries around the world have done, noting that the government gave two weeks’ notice of the protests, ample time to inform protesters of the restrictions without the need for a court order.
“Today in Lagos, from what I understand, people came from 30-40 kilometres away to join the protest in Ojota. Again, before the government lockdown, that was the site used for protests.
“It was the same situation in Abuja where protesters used a fence, the Unity Fountain; it was a few steps away from the Transcorp Hilton Hotel. The Abuja government, the Federal Capital Territory Administration, sealed it off. So, people took to the streets.
“If the government now says, we are going to designate a venue, a protest venue in every state capital, as many countries in the world have done, I think that is also a lesson to be learned.
“But don’t rush to go to court when you get at least two weeks’ notice of an impending protest. Don’t rush to go to court on the eve of a protest because even if the court issues an order, it will not actually be served on the people,” he added.
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