A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Thursday declared illegal and unconstitutional the police ban of #BringBackOurGirls peaceful protests.
Justice Sunday Aladetoyinbo made the ruling while delivering judgment in the suit filed by the #BringBackOurGirls protesters to challenge the ban on their rallies by the then FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, on June 1, 2014.
Mbu, who is now an Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 7, Abuja, had banned the daily protests by the group, though the ban was subsequently reversed by the then Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, but the protesters insisted on proceeding with the suit.
Justice Aladetoyinbo in his judgment on Thursday upheld the argument of the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), and declared that the pronouncement by Mbu was a violation of the applicants’ “fundamental rights to freedom of conscience, expression, assembly and association as guaranteed by sections 38, 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution.”
He also held that the ban violated the provisions of Articles 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, 2004.
Source: Punch
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