A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and human rights activist, Barrister Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa has submitted that there is no reason for Nigerians who feel oppressed by being asked to stay at home by force cannot seek legal redress.
Bar. Adegboruwa, gave the narrative during a radio programme, Parrot Xtra Hour on Radio aired on Space 90.1FM in Ibadan.
He noted that President Buhari’s directive on stay-at-home lacked legal backing because it failed to observe due process.
Adegboruwa, who is a human right activist stated that the restriction order by President Muhammadu Buhari on Lagos, Ogun and Abuja should be subjected to the approval or rejection of the National Assembly, which has the sole right because it constitutes the representatives of the people of Nigeria.
He said that this would have given the order necessary support and compliance just as it was done in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
Adegboruwa opined that lack of due process and legal framework has made the over zealous law enforcement officers asked to enforce the ‘stay at home order’ to resort to beating and destroying wares of people alleged to be flouting the directive by the president.
His words, “I must commend the president and also the various governors, especially of Lagos State, who have demonstrated sufficient capacity towards addressing this pandemic. That is not to say that they should use the excuse of COVID-19 to perpetrate illegality as it was contained in the broadcast of the president of March 29th.
“I belief that section 41 of the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended grants every citizen the freedom of movement, and says that no citizen of Nigeria should be denied access, entrance to or exist of any portion of Nigeria and people should be allowed to move freely. And I believe that if the president has reasons to restrict the movement of persons, he has to go to the parliament and seek the consent of the parliament, which constitutes the representatives of the people of Nigeria.
“There is need for recourse to due process because law predicts human conduct, when there is a law regulating a process, it is not subject to individual interpretation, you can read the law and know what it says. Once there is no law everybody then takes it to his own understanding which leads to confusion and chaos, which is what is happening now, and that is why I insist that everything should be done normally.
“Anybody who is a victim of this occasion is probably entitled by law to seek redress against those who encroach on his or her right. If you have become a victim of over-zealousness law enforcement officers, it is to ensure that you identify them either they are in the police or the Army, and then the person who has authority and supervision over them such as the Inspector General of Police or Chief of Army Staff or the president himself, who gave the directive are answerable to those who become victims in this circumstance.
“So anybody who suffers any form of injustice or molestation can approach the law court to seek redress against the president,” Adegboruwa established.
Watch out for the full interview’s manuscript.
Packaged by Kunle Gazali and Olaitan Ige
