Africa Press-Nigeria:<\/p>\n
Legal practitioner, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has told the government to concede that Nigerians have the right to peaceful protests.<\/p>\n
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said this in a statement on Wednesday in reaction to police handling of End SARS demonstrations.<\/p>\n
He warned that never again must citizens live in a country where they cannot assemble freely to express themselves.<\/p>\n
Adegboruwa pointed out that Sections 39 & 40 of the constitution are very clear on this.<\/p>\n
The SAN said whenever there is a particular policy that the people are not satisfied with, they must be allowed the right to free speech.<\/p>\n
He added that this must be without the usual government response of police harassment and bogus charges in court.<\/p>\n
Adegboruwa suggested that attacks on rallies are why Nigerians usually wait for groups and organised labour to announce protests.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the rights to freedom of expression and association are gained, we don\u2019t need to keep waiting on any particular organization or entity to organize peaceful civil disobedience, as is done in other climes\u201d, the lawyer said.<\/p>\n