The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumodun, acted beyond his powers by announcing a ban on protests in Lagos State.
According to a statement issued by the Executive Director of the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Okechukwu Nwanguma, He is exercising powers he does not have.
“When CP Joseph Mbu issued a similar illegal order in the FCT in 2014 banning protests by the Bring Back Our Girls group, while he was CP FCT, he was forced to withdraw the order following the public backlash.
“The Bring Back Our Girls Group, through their lawyers, Femi Falana Chambers went to court and got a court order nullifying that illegal order and reaffirming citizens’ constitutional rights to assemble peacefully and protest without requiring approval from the Police.
“This is to call the attention of the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State to this judicial pronouncement and to urge him to understand and act within the limits of his powers.
“There is also no such thing as ‘EndSARS violent protests’, as stated in the Press Release issued by the CP Lagos through the PPRO. The #EndSARS protests were peaceful until government recruited thugs who attacked the peaceful protesters and subsequently deployed soldiers who attacked them and fired live ammunition on the protesters”, he stated.
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