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Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has dismissed a suit filed by former Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Section on Public Interest and Development Law (NBA-SPIDEL), Dr. Monday Ubani, seeking to stop the army, police and other security agencies from proliferating the Lagos-Southeast routes with roadblocks.
The applicant had sued the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Comptroller General of Customs, Chief of Defence Staff, Corp Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) at the court.
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He sought a declaration that the proliferation of intra-state and highways with roadblocks mounted by their officers, particularly enroute Lagos to Southeastern part of Nigeria, which result in obstruction of free movement on the highway and loss of travel time, is a violation of his right to free and undisrupted movement. According to him, this is guaranteed by Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution and other enabling laws.
Delivering judgment in the suit, Justice Aneke held that from evidence before him, it was obvious that, indeed, there were proliferation of roadblocks along the Lagos-Southeastern road, which made the applicant and other road users to spend hours on the road.
The court further held that the right to free movement of the applicant, indeed, derogated due to the powers given to the President and security agencies by the Constitution to map out security measures to secure the country.
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