Have you heard? That contrary to demands from diverse sects to remove soldiers deployed to quell the pro-fuel subsidy protests in the streets of Lagos and some other states in Nigeria the FG still retains the soldiers on our streets. But like the fuel subsidy that shifted grounds from N141 to N97 hopefully this would be the case, thus shifting ground this time from our streets to the police barracks.
Read reports below chopped out from PUNCH NG:
The soldiers that President Goodluck Jonathan deployed to quell the pro-fuel subsidy riots in Lagos remained in the state on Tuesday despite pleas by eminent Nigerians asking the President to rescind the deployment.
On Monday, Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka; the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola (SAN); and some other eminent Nigerians had criticised the deployment and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the soldiers from the streets of Lagos.
The critics had argued that the largely non-violent protests that Lagos witnessed during the fuel subsidy crisis did not warrant the deployment of troops.
But indications that the President had ignored the eminent Nigerians emerged on Tuesday as our correspondents who moved round the metropolis reported that the soldiers were still stationed around Lagos.
Soldiers were sighted at the Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota, which served as the epicentre of last week’s protests, and other areas of the city, including Obanikoro, Surulere, Tafawa Balewa Square, Maryland and Fadeyi.
According to reports, the soldiers did not frisk motorists and passers-by or search vehicles as they did on Monday, but they were all heavily armed.
At Falomo in Ikoyi, the venue of very successful protest rallies last week, soldiers and Air Force policemen were seen under the Falomo Bridge. The stern military men did not allow commercial drivers to pick passengers under the bridge.
The Convener, Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare, said at a press conference on Tuesday that the group was going to sue the Federal Government for the violent violation of their rights to peaceful protest.
Bakare said the government violated their rights through the deployment of troops and armoured vehicles to the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota.
Bakare said, “The violation of our rights to peaceful protests by the Federal Government through the deployment of troops and tanks to the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park on Monday, January 16, is totally uncalled for.
“Before we rallied at the park, we sought the necessary permission from the Lagos State Government and we wrote to notify the Lagos State Commissioner of Police and asked him to provide protection.
“The policemen deployed to the park were mostly idle throughout the five days we spent at the Park, as there was no breakdown of law and order.
Governor Babatunde Fashola in rejecting the crude assault on our right to protest acknowledged our peaceful conduct throughout our activities.
“And we agree with him totally that if we had conducted ourselves otherwise, the police were the right body to deal with that and not soldiers who occupied the venue and subjected our people to harassment, corporal punishment and intimidation. It is unfortunate that this brutal dictatorship is taking place in a civilian dispensation. We shall definitely enforce our rights in courts to teach the regime the basic principles of civilised conduct in a democratic setting.”
Bakare also said the CNG would hold a victory rally on Saturday as a mark of appreciation of the resilience of Nigerians during the five-day protest against fuel subsidy removal.
Constitutional lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), who spoke with one of our correspondents on the telephone on Monday described the development as illegal and constituted an abuse of power.
According to Sagay, soldiers can only be deployed in a place when there is insurrection against a sitting government, a situation he said was not present in Lagos while the protests lasted.
He said, “Obviously, this is illegal and a gross abuse of power. People gathered at the various protest centres in Lagos and other parts of the country singing and dancing. There was no any form of insurrection. It is only when there is an insurrection that soldiers can be deployed in streets. That is, when some persons take up arms against a sitting government. There was no such thing in this situation.”
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