A Federal
High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos State, presided over by Justice Mohammed Idris, has
declared as unlawful the restriction of citizens’ movement during the monthly
Lagos environmental sanitation exercise.
The policy
of the Lagos State Government restricts citizens to their homes for three hours
between 7 a.m and 10 a.m every last Saturday of the month.
The court
held that there is no law in force in Lagos State by which any citizen could be
kept indoors, compulsorily. It also added that there is no regulation in force
currently in Lagos State which authorises the restriction of movement of
citizens, on the last Saturdays of the month, for the purpose of observing
environmental sanitation.
The court
found that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria grants freedom
of movement to every citizen, and such freedom cannot be taken away by
executive proclamation, in the absence of any law to that effect.
He therefore
voided the power of the Lagos State Government and its agent to arrest any
citizen found moving between 7am and 10am on the last Saturday of every month
when the environmental sanitation exercise is observed.
Justice Idris took arguments in respect of the
suit filed by human rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, against the
Inspector-General of Police and the Lagos State Government, to challenge the
restriction of human movements on the last Saturday of every month, for the
purpose of observing environmental sanitation.
Adegboruwa
led Mr Gbenga Awoseye to argue the case himself.
In the suit,
Adegboruwa contended that there is no law in force in Lagos State restricting
movement of persons, for the purpose of observing environmental sanitation.
He argued
that section 39 of the Environmental Sanitation Law 2000, of Lagos State, which
the respondents claimed to empower the Commissioner for the Environment, to
make regulations, cannot be the basis for restricting human movement on
Saturdays, as no regulation in force has indeed been made for that purpose.
He challenged the Lagos State Government to
produce such regulation before the court.
He then
urged the court to hold that even if there is such regulation in force, it
cannot be enforced on roads that are designated as federal highways under the
Highways Act, such as the 3rd Mainland Bridge where he was arrested by the
police and LASTMA officials.
Lagos State
Government was represented in court by Mr Jonathan Ogunsanya, chief state
counsel from the Ministry of Justice.
Mr Ogunsaya,
in his response, argued that section 41 of the 1999 Constitution permits
government to make laws that may derogate from the right to freedom of movement
and that the Environmental Sanitation Law of Lagos State, 2000, is an example
of such derogation.
He argued
further that the practice of keeping people at home for three hours only on the
last Saturdays of the month is meant to keep society and environment clean and
safe. Therefore, he said that there are classified exceptions to the
restriction, including emergencies and ambulance services and those on essential
services.
After the
judgment, Adegboruewa, said: “I am committed to the struggle to eradicate all
forms of arbitrariness and impunity from our society.”
No comments:
Post a Comment