Lawyers have also weighed in on what is now commonly known as the hunger protest, saying peaceful protest is a constitutional right that must not be infringed upon by constituted authorities. They, however, added that the government did not do enough to stop the action.
Abeny Mohammed (SAN) said the failure of the president to address the protesters before or on the slated date for the commencement of the protest was a missed opportunity by the number one citizen to show empathy and identify with the suffering of Nigerians.
“The massive deployment of security forces to stop the protesters from protesting is an admission of failure by the government that it has no solution to the genuine demands of the protesters and Nigerians generally.
“Crude and forceful suppression of genuine protest by aggrieved Nigerians in the exercise of their constitutional rights has no place in a democracy. It is a significant and brutal violation of the constitution by the president.
“Secondly, the late rush to procure what I may describe as market ex-parte injunctive orders by some state governments to stop or restrict the protesters to remote areas and render the action ineffectual is gross abuse of court process and infringement on Section 40 of the constitution, which provides freedom of peaceful assembly.
“Their actions should be condemned. The judges who granted the injunctions acted in ignorance and ultra vires of the principles governing the granting of ex-parte orders.
“The organisers of the protests gave more than two weeks’ notice of their intention to stage the protests, a period more than enough for the applicants to put them on notice of the applications for injunctions.
“There was, therefore, no urgency at all for the courts to have entertained the motions ex-parte hurriedly filed and heard less than 24 hours to the commencement of the protests.
“This is a clear case of self-imposed urgency under which courts should never entertain ex-parte. The ex-parte orders are, therefore, nullities even before superior courts set them aside”.
Similarly, Ikoro N.A. Ikoro Esq said the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provided ways through which people could air their grievances and that peaceful protest is one of them.
“The government has not done enough to address the grievances, as there is a lot of waste going on at the moment like spending money on luxury cars, repairing buildings that were just used by the previous government, buying yacht or aircraft and things like that,” he said.
“So, when you do these things and people can’t even find money to fuel their cars or to buy garri or bean because prices have gone up, then the government has not done enough, even though they are saying they should be given time.
“If they are given time, can they make sure that goods and services reach the common man; even the palliatives they are giving out, how is it helping anyone? How many people can get it? Is it going to get to the woman in the streets or those who are hard hit by the situation?
“What I can say is that if they had put the efforts they put in trying to stop this protest earlier, in addressing the real problems, maybe things would not have escalated to this state,” he added.
Also speaking, Hameed Ajibola Jimoh Esq, said the right to protest is governed by international law, adding that the only rule is for it to be peaceful.
“There is a need to ensure that in exercising the right to protest, the rights of others are considered, including the rights of the adults and the minors,” he said.
He said the peaceful protest allows other citizens who may not want to protest to exercise their rights.
He added that the government has not done enough to address the hunger in the land.
“There are mechanisms that I believe the government could have used to gauge the people’s opinion because the hunger did not just begin from this administration, but it only got worse, more than what the people can bear.
“Look at what the common man is suffering, you can no longer live the same life you did 10 years ago; things have become so bad in Nigeria that everyone is suffering.
“How many citizens can afford the basic necessities? Even the rich are also crying about the economic hardship. It appears the funds are only circulating at the centre and not getting to the people. This protest, as far as I am concerned, was avoidable.
“Government knows what should be done and they should do the right thing.”
Earlier, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) announced the provision of pro bono legal support services for protesters in all the branches nationwide.
In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the association, Akorede Habeeb Lawal said the president, Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), gave the directive in recognition of the fundamental and guaranteed constitutional rights of citizens to assemble and protest.
Maikyau established Legal Support Services Teams across the country headed by the 1st Vice President of the NBA, Linda Rose Bala; the Chairman of NBA-SPIDEL, Sir Steve Adehi, SAN; and the Chairman of NBA Human Rights Institute; Chinonye Obiagwu, SAN, and wrote to the Inspector General of Police to collaborate with the NBA in this regard.
He further directed all the chairmen/chairpersons of the 130 branches of the NBA to ensure that their respective human rights committees take up observed or reported cases of breach of fundamental right (s) of any citizen, harassment, intimidation or torture perpetrated by law enforcement agents, the protesters or other identified members of the public in the course of the protest.
“Chairmen/Chairpersons of NBA branches have also been directed to set up Situation Monitoring Committees (SMC) to monitor and report activities and interactions between law enforcement agents and protesters’’, the statement added.
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