You can move about on sanitation day, court rules

A Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos State has declared that restriction of movements in Lagos during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise is unlawful,

Justice Mohammed Idris, in a judgment delivered on Monday, held that it is a violation of the citizens’ right to personal liberty and freedom of movement protected by sections 35 and 41 of the Constitution.

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 enviromental sanitation exercise is observed.

Idris gave the verdict in a suit by a human rights activist Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa.

The court found that the 1999 Constitution 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.

Reacting, Adegboruwa said: “It is a signal to all those in power, across the land, that the rule of arbitrariness, of impunity and of wanton disregard for peoples’ rights and freedoms is gradually coming to an end.

“When we dare to struggle, then we dare to win. I, therefore, urge all Nigerians to troop to the courts, to challenge the unchallengeables, to kick off the arbitrary PHCN impositions, all illegal charges and tax imposition and all obnoxious policies wickedly devised by all our rulers. Together we shall win.”

 

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