• IGP asks Nigerians to resist demand for mobilisation by policemen

Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has charged the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to take the lead in enforcing citizens’ socio-economic rights, stressing that true security cannot exist without welfare.

Similarly, a former Minister of Education and public policy analyst, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, has criticised the Federal Government’s handling of petrol subsidy removal, describing it as a necessary reform poorly implemented.

They spoke just as the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Usman Ogwu Sule, called for stricter enforcement of the Electoral Act 2022, particularly Section 33, which bars political parties from changing candidates except in cases of death or withdrawal.

The trio made their submissions at the ongoing 2025 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual Conference in Enugu State. Delivering a paper titled “Citizens’ Rights and Security Concerns”, Falana argued that Nigeria’s constitutional framework had created a two-tier system, where civil and political rights were protected, but socio-economic rights remain largely aspirational due to their non-justiciability.

“A nation that is free from bullets but not from hunger, disease, joblessness, squalor, or illiteracy is not secure. It is merely quiet,” he said. On Nigeria’s worsening security, he condemned the failure of the state to curb kidnapping, killings, and extrajudicial executions, urging the legal community to hold the government accountable for its constitutional duty to protect lives.

EZEKWESILI, at a different panel, also criticised the government’s handling of subsidy removal, calling it a good policy implemented in the wrong way.

Ezekwesili argued that President Bola Tinubu’s May 29, 2023, declaration that “the subsidy is gone” reflected more bravado than strategic planning.

Taking a tough posture before the lawyers, she said, “I am glad you are here to listen to me. Perhaps you may not invite me again after today, but I must say this: you represent the very heartbeat of professionalism in our country. In any society, it is important that we do not laugh away or trivialise the difficult conditions in which we find ourselves as a people.”

SULE called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rigorously monitor party primaries and ensure that its reports are binding on political parties.

He stressed the need for judicial activism and purposive interpretation of electoral laws to curb party impunity. Delivering a paper titled “Rethinking Political Questions” under the conference theme, “Stand Out, Stand Tall”, Sule highlighted the tension between the constitutional principle of non-justiciability and the growing demand for internal democracy in political parties.

He explained that under Nigeria’s constitutional jurisprudence, certain issues are categorised as “non-justiciable,” meaning they cannot be determined or enforced by courts. Part II of the 1999 Constitution, he noted, contains the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, widely regarded as unenforceable policy statements.

EARLIER, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, had asked Nigerians to resist the alleged demand for mobilisation by police officers in the investigation and prosecution of their cases. He also stated that no fewer than 250 lawyers who would be called to the bar any moment from now would be absorbed into the police workforce to strengthen its legal directorate for more cordial and effectual services to the Nigerian people.

Egbetokun stated that it was the duty of policemen to receive complaints on issues that could derail peace and order and work to ensure their speedy resolutions.

The police boss had created a stir at the conference when he stated that the “issue of mobilisation is unknown to the Nigeria Police.”

Responding to a question on the ugly demand for mobilisation from police officers from complainants before undertaking their jobs, after his presentation on Citizens’ Rights and Security, Egbetokun, who frowned on the development, said efforts were on to address it.

ALSO, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Prof. Mike Ozekhome, regretted that the annual conference had become an “annual ritual”, where members participate and go home without improving in their practice and advocacy.

He also regretted that lawyers “are now politicking more than professional politicians” and wondered when they had time to do their job for the good of the profession and society.

Contributing to the issue, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Prof Joy Ezeilo, stated that citizens’ rights and security could not be discussed without women, gender, and children’s rights.