Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Mr Ebun Olu Adegboruwa, who had dragged Lagos State government and Lekki Concession Company to court over the issue spoke on the protest experience, the legal issue involved and his next line of action.
Excerpts.
What is your assessment of the situation unfolding over toll collection at the Lekki /Epe express toll plaza and How would you describe the experience as one of the arrow heads of Saturday protest?
My honest assessment of the unfolding situation on the Lekki/Epe road is that of total bewilderment. I am still shocked that th How would you describe the experience as one of the arrow heads of the protest e toll has actually commenced.
It seemed like a drama or a movie, something that is too bad to be true. My understanding so far has been the Lagos State Government has been a role model to other states of the Federation in many areas, especially that of respect for the rule of law, setting the pace of transparency in governance.
The Action Congress of Nigeria had offered its platform as the progressive alternative to the despotic tendencies of the Peoples’ Democratic Party. So I had always thought that the day ACN grabs power at the federal level, then democracy will take root firmly in Nigeria.
But with what I personally witnessed yesterday December 17, 2011, it is clear to me that the ACN is probably worse than any other government in Nigeria.
I mean we had a situation whereby we duly applied for police permit before the commencement of the protest, we met with relevant police officers responsible for the maintenance of law and order, from the DPO of Maroko Police Station even up to the Commissioner of Police and we were well assured that the police will offer protection for the peaceful protest.
And we kept our own side of the bargain, by just sitting on the sidewalk, without any violence or disruption. Suddenly armed policemen and hired thugs who came in danfo buses descended on us without any provocation at all. They were just beating us, manhandling us while the police were busy shooting live bullets and cannisters into the crowd of defenceless and armless civilians.
They chased us all into the Lekki Phase 1 Estate and indeed entered into the private estate and into our various homes. I was actually chased into a bush where I hid myself with some journalists. I then remembered the whole June 12 struggle when we were been chased all over town by hatchet men of the Abacha regime and I could not but weep inside. That I was experiencing all over again what I went through in the hands of military dictators.
The scenario that is unfolding now is that the government has ignited a fire that it can never quench, in Lagos State. This is because when lawlessness and brutality starts from the state, then it will go down to the citizens who will be using the state as example for impunity.
And to make it worse is that it is a government that is led by very learned people in law and knowledge. It is quite unfortunate. So what is happening in the Lekki area now is a state of general tension and apprehension, waiting for the day the gun powder will explode. And I foresee that this will not be too long.
Resident stage a peaceful protest ahead of the toll collection which began Sunday . would you say the protest achieved anything ?
Our protest has achieved a lot in the sense that it has drawn world attention to the exploitation of the Lagos State Government and its concessionaire, the Lekki Concession Company. This is a project that was conceived as a means of alleviating the stress and suffering of residents of the Lekki Epe axis but has turned out to be the very opposite of what it was advertised to achieve.
With the toll fee now in place, we will be spending more hours on the road, we will burn more fuel and we will lose a lot in terms of manpower and energy. The whole transaction was previously shrouded in mystery and secrecy.
Nobody knew exactly what was contained in the contract between Lagos State and LCC, for instance that under Clause 7.7.2 and 7.7.3 of the Contract, Lagos State is to build an alternative Coastal Road for those who may not want to pay toll fee.
There is no mention of Oniru Private Estate as an alternative route in the contract at all. So we have succeeded in demystifying the whole contract to the people. The lies that were fed to the public by LCC we have succeeded in debunking them totally. So the effect of the protest may not be seen physically but surely we have gained a lot in terms of education and enlightenment of our people, and that is very crucial to us.
There were insinuations that those who attacked the protesters were sponsored . How do you react to this ?
Those that attacked us were thugs and members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers that were recruited by the Lagos State Government and LCC. This we confirmed because there was an open alliance between the police and the thugs.
The thugs were attacking journalists and protesters to the face of the police. It was quite an experience, to see armed thugs being used to disperse women and innocent elders, retired judges, retired generals and even sickly people amongst us.
It was the height of state terrorism and barbarism. I do not think that Adolf Hitler could have done more. There is no way that the Lagos State Government and LCC could deny any link in the attack.
The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Task Force directly supervised the brutality, led by Chief Superintendent of Police who indeed ordered the police to shoot into the crowd. The police was assisting the thugs to shoot live bullets and tear gas on the protesters so that the thugs will have free hand to assault us.
You reportedly alleged that Governor Babatunde Fashola gave Lekki Concession Company LCC , go ahead to commence toll collection when a law suit which you instituted is pending before a Federal High Court . Could you put the legal issues involved in perspective and Is there any subsisting restraining order against Lagos State government and LCC on the issue?
On December 7, 2011, I filed an application for an order of injunction against the Lagos State Government and LCC at the Court of Appeal, Lagos. I served LCC through its lawyers, Aluko and Oyebode at Moloney Street, Lagos on December 7, at exactly 3.30 pm.
I served the Honourable Attorney-General of Lagos State at his office in Alausa, Ikeja on December 8, at exactly 9.40 am. With this done, what is expected in law was for the Lagos State Government and LCC to await the hearing and determination of the application for an order of injunction pending in the court of appeal.
That is what is meant by following due process and the rule of law. But the Lagos State Government went ahead with the collection of the toll fee, not withstanding the case pending in court. Now, when government cannot abide by the rule of law, then it is provoking a situation of complete anarchy and self rule.
Because citizens will use government as example of lawlessness and anarchy. For instance, after the toll fee collection started on December 18, thugs invaded the Oniru Private Estate and started collecting their own toll fee from motorists, citing the example of Governor Fashola on the main road.
I believe that the Court of Appeal is in a position to reverse the gross abuse of the rule of law by the Lagos State Government and LCC by stopping the toll fee collection, pending the determination of the appeal.
What I will do is to gather enough evidence of toll collection to show to the court of appeal that despite the application for injunction pending in the court of appeal, the Lagos State Government and LCC have gone ahead to be collecting toll fee.
What do you intend to do on the issue of the protesters who were brutalised while exercising their fundamental right ?
We will continue to demand for the release of all the protesters. They cannot be held in unlawful custody against their will. The rented thugs of Lagos State have been carrying out their own protest and rallies on the main road, disrupting vehicular movement. They have not been arrested or dispersed by the police.
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