By Ishaya Ibrahim
The #EndBadGovernance Movement has demanded the release of nine protesters arrested by the police at the Gani Fawehinmi Park in the Ojota area of Lagos State.
A statement signed by the organising committee of the movement, said the protesters were arrested on Wednesday October 2 when they converged at the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota on October 2 believing that the October 1 protest was going to continue the next day.
The statement listed those arrested to include; Funmi Robert (60), Sunday Obasoro (24), Sikiru Adeagbo (41), Babatunde Oyeleye (32), Akin Okunowo (50), Dare Toyin (21), Adebayo Shobogun (37), Michael Adeleke (23), and Stanley Akonye (42).
The police were said to have impounded a Toyota pickup, with registration number SRA 813 XB.
Part of the statement reads, “In a statement published by Punch Newspaper on Thursday 3rd October 2024, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Olanrewaju Ishola, was quoted justifying the arrest by alluding to a meeting held with the representatives of the #Endbadgovernance movement in Lagos state on Friday 27 September 2024. According to him “The protest organizers cooperated with the police, gave assurances to be peaceful and of good behaviour, mentioned their route, and informed the police that the protest was for October 1, 2024, only”.
“As far as we are concerned, it is rather disingenuous for the Police to arrest innocent Nigerian citizens and charge them for conduct likely to cause breach of public peace simply because they gathered at a public park that protesters had earlier converged at a day before.
“First and foremost, the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota, is a public park where any Nigerian citizen could gather for relaxation, meeting or pleasure. Therefore the mere sighting of people there cannot be a justifiable reason to suspect them of being a threat to public peace.
Secondly, the fact that representatives of the #Endbadgovernance movement Lagos State honored an invitation from the Commissioner of Police last Friday to a parley where they informed him of the plan for the October 1st protest does not mean that other Nigerians cannot enjoy the same right to organize their own protest as they deem fit including on any day they like.
“What the police has failed to realize is that Nigerians’ rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly is to be respected at all times and not just when the police finds it convenient. These rights are inviolable and cannot be suppressed or reduced to conditions dictated by the police or autocratic governments.
“We hereby demand the immediate and unconditional release of the 9 persons arrested at the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota.”