…You don’t need police permit for protest – Keyamo
The convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, and other executive members of the group said that the police has failed to state any reason for their arrest.
The BBOG leaders were picked up on Tuesday morning at the Abuja Unity Fountain in the early hours of the morning when they gathered for their usual peaceful match.
Confirming the arrest, Ezekwesili in her verified tweeter handle said that they were arrested and detained without being told the reasons for their arrest.
She wrote, “I have been arrested along with the rest of our BBOG members and now detained without a charge by the @PoliceNG. WE are detained at the FCT command. The police here have refused to tell us why we are detained”.
“What are we demanding? BringBackOurGirlsNOW!!!!!!!”
Speaking with journalists from the police station, Ezekwesili called for the release all members of the group already in detention.
“Today we gathered to do our usual march, and the Nigerian police refused for us to leave the Unity Fountain (in Abuja),” she said.
Read Also: BREAKING: Nigerian Police arrests, detains Oby Ezekwesili
“Some of our colleagues have already gone and they are going to be giving their press statement there.
“Those of us that they have locked in here, in particular, they have refused that I should move.
“They have built a human prison and have violated my fundamental right to freedom of movement and association and therefore I want it to be on record that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has infringed the constitution by violating my fundamental right to freedom of movement and association and this cannot be allowed to happen in a democracy.
“If there is anyone there listening to this, they must tell President Muhammadu Buhari to instruct the IG of Nigerian police to let the officers who have imprisoned me in broad daylight, to let me go about my business.
“I am a law-abiding citizen of this country. I see no reason why my right should be violated. And so right now I will continue to insist that these officers allow me to move out of the Unity Fountain” Ezekwesili.
Meanwhile a human rights lawyer, Festus Keyamo (SAN) condemned the arrest, describing it as an arrest too many. He said there policy permit is not required before protests.
In a statement on Tuesday, Keyamo said that he was bewildered and disillusioned by the arrest by the Nigerian Police of members of Bring Back Our Girls movement.
This, he said, is coming on the heels of the recent illegal arrest and detention of some on-line journalists by the same Police, acting at the behest of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris.
“I am still struggling to come to terms with the explanation given by the Police for the arrest, which is the absence of a permit by the members of the group.
“This moronic excuse is not only inexcusable; it is laughable as Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) guarantees the right to Peaceful Assembly and association.
“The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has also re-iterated that a police permit is not required for such a gathering in the case of IGP V. ANPP & ORS (2007) 18 NWLR (PT. 1066) PG. 457.
“Though, I understand that the members of the group have been released from the Police Station to which they were taken, it does not detract from the fact that detention of a citizen, no matter how brief, so long as it is unjustified, is a violent violation of human rights. The law is very clear on this as stated by the Court of Appeal in the case of DURUAKU V. NWOKE (2015) 15 NWLR (PT. 1483) PG. 417, particularly at 471 Par F-G.
“I therefore call on the Nigerian Police to immediately apologise to the members of the group for this unwarranted, unjustified and provocative trespass on their persons and deprivation of their freedoms.
“I also re-iterate my call for the removal of the Inspector-General of Police from office for these unpardonable and inexplicable infractions of the fundamental rights of citizens of our country.”
Myke Uzendu, Abuja
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