Civil rights lawyer and activist, Dele Farotimi, has berated the Nigerian Police Force and the judiciary for allegedly trampling on citizens’ constitutional rights to peaceful protest, arguing that their actions show Nigeria is merely “pretending to be a democracy.”
Speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief, on Tuesday, Farotimi said that in a genuine democracy, citizens should not require police approval before holding demonstrations.
“In a democracy, there should never be a need for a police permit before you may have a protest,” Farotimi said.
“That a court would presume to curtail the right of citizens to protest peacefully in a democracy is even suggestive of the fact that we’re not in a democracy. We’re only mimicking and pretending to be in one.”
His remarks followed Monday’s #FreeNnamdiKanu protest in Abuja, during which activists led by Omoyele Sowore defied a police warning and court order to demonstrate before officers dispersed them with teargas.
Farotimi condemned the police action and accused the judiciary of aiding executive excesses.
“It is completely unheard of that citizens in a democracy would need the permission of their paid employees—the police—before they can congregate peacefully.
I’m sorry to say our judiciary is unfit for purpose. It does exactly as it is told by the executive and does not serve the cause of justice,” he said.
The activist maintained that only violent demonstrators should be arrested, not peaceful ones, recalling his own experience of being prosecuted under what he described as a “non-existent law.”
“I have been the victim of a court case that trailed me and remanded me on a non-existent law.
So what kind of court order is going to stop citizens who are not out for violence from peacefully showing their displeasure with the government?” he queried.
Farotimi added that the government’s repeated hostility toward protests reflects a deeper pattern of indifference to public concerns, referencing the 2020 EndSARS movement.
“End SARS was rebranded as SWAT; now it’s RRS. The name changed, but the nature didn’t. The Nigerian state doesn’t change anything—it doesn’t listen,” he said. “When you protest in Nigeria, you’re talking to the deaf.”
Meanwhile, the Police Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, defended the Force’s actions, explaining that officers only enforced a valid court order restricting the protest from accessing key areas in Abuja.
“We got a court order specifically about this protest and restricting protests from certain areas like the Aso Villa, the Supreme Court, the National Assembly, Eagle Square, the Force Headquarters and Shagari Way. As a law enforcement agency, we are duty-bound to enforce that order,” Hundeyin said during a Channels Television interview on Monday.
The #FreeNnamdiKanu demonstration was convened by Sowore, who called on Nigerians to demand the release of the detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who has been in government custody since 2021 facing terrorism-related charges.
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