Court restricts protesters to four locations in Ogun

• Ruling harmful to judiciary reputation, says Access to Justice
• Lagos deploys RRS personnel ahead of nationwide protests

Ogun State High Court sitting in Abeokuta, yesterday, ordered the sponsors of #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests to limit their activities to four locations in the state.

The court also restricted the time-frame of the protests to between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Justice O. Ogunfowora, who granted an application moved by the state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade (SAN), directed that all protests under the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria slogan or any other slogan from August 1-10, 2024, must be limited in place and time.

The judge prohibited the protesters from protesting anywhere in the state except at the MKO Stadium, Abeokuta; Ansar-ud-Deen Comprehensive High School, Ota; Remo Divisional High School, Sagamu; and Dipo Dina Stadium, Ijebu-Ode.

The Attorney-General said that the four locations are across the four divisions of the state in the three senatorial districts. The judge, in his ruling, also prohibited any protest from taking place outside the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

The judge further directed the Commissioner of Police in the state to enforce the order and ensure that the protests are held only in the specified locations and during the time periods stated in the order.

Justice Ogunfowora, who declared that the order would last for seven days and ordered the state to serve the application on notice within that period, shortened the time for the protesters to respond to the application to 72 hours.

The case was adjourned to August 6, 2024. Meanwhile, Access to Justice has described a Lagos High Court ruling restricting the planned public protests to a particular place as “unfortunate and reputational harm to not just the Lagos judiciary, but the Nigerian judiciary”.

The Convener, Access to Justice, Joseph Otteh, said the ruling was unfortunate and would occasion considerable reputational harm to not just the Lagos judiciary, but the Nigerian judiciary.

The group said the orders of the court undercut the principles universally regarded as fundamental to the exercise of judicial power as well as the normative contents of globally-recognised rights.

It described the position of the Nigerian Bar Association on the protests as a “Kick in the Gut” for rule of law. However, Lagos State Government has deployed men of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) to the streets ahead of the protests. The heavy presence of police officers of the RRS and Task Force was seen on streets, yesterday, as they patrol.

In the operation, which took off from Alausa, Ikeja, to the old Toll-gate, Ojota, Ogudu, Iyana-Oworo, and Third Mainland Bridge axis, some officers were also seen marching through Lekki streets to the Lekki Tollgate area, in a bid to maintain law and order in the state.