Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of a Federal High Court in
Lagos has adjourned further proceedings till January 16, 2016 in a suit filed
by human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), against the
Attorney General of
the Federation.
Falana is seeking compensation in the sum of N500m from the
AGF for the alleged violation of his right by military men during the fuel
subsidy protest of January 2012.
He is urging the court to declare that the military, being
agents of the Federal Government, violated his fundamental rights when they
prevented him from joining others at the Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Park in Ojota,
Lagos on January 16, 2012 to protest the removal of fuel subsidy.
He claimed to have been affected, as a motorist who bought
fuel from time to time, when the Federal Government under former President
Goodluck Jonathan increased the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit from N65 to
N141 per litre in 2012.
“By restricting my movement, the respondents’ agents did not
allow me to express my opinion based on new facts at the rally on Monday,
January 16, 2012.
“The applicant was prevented from enjoying his freedom of
movement when he was unlawfully ordered to return to his residence by armed
agents of the respondents.”
Falana, who recalled that he took part in several
demonstrations against the policy of the military regimes between January 1984
and May 1999, said the soldiers who stopped him on January 16, 2012 from
protesting against the removal of fuel subsidy caused him mental and
psychological trauma.
“As a result of the action of the respondents I suffered
mental and psychological trauma having played a leading role in the struggle
for the restoration of democratic rule in May 1999.
“I was also pained because I had taken part in the protest
rallies held in Lagos and Abuja in January 2010 which culminated in the
emergence of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as the acting President of Nigeria,” he
said.
Falana is urging the court to declare that he is entitled to
be compensated for damages in the sum of N500m for the violation of his
fundamental rights to freedom of movement, freedom of expression, freedom of
association and peaceful assembly guaranteed by sections 36, 40 and 41 of the
1999 Constitution.
The only respondent in the case is the AGF after the
applicant had discontinued action against the President of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria and the Minister of Defence, which were originally joined as the 1st
and 2nd respondents respectively.
The office of the AGF has however asked the court to either
dismiss Falana’s suit in its entirety or strike out the name of the AGF as a
respondent in the suit, for “not being a necessary or even a desirable party in
the suit.”
It said it did not play any role in the alleged violation of
Falana’s rights and maintained that the human rights lawyer failed to disclose
any reasonable cause of action against the AGF.
One Keshinro Adedamola, who deposed to an affidavit in
support of the AGF’s preliminary objection, said, “The AGF does not have the
power under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to either
effect an increase in the pump price of PMS or direct armed soldiers to prevent
any citizen from moving about.”
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