THE police, on Monday, banned protests over the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Commissioner of Police in FCT, Mr Joseph Mbu, announced the ban at a news conference in Abuja, saying the protests were posing a serious security threat.
“Accordingly, protests on the Chibok girls are hereby banned with immediate effect,’’ Mbu said.
He said after a group, under the aegis of “Bring Back Our Girls,’’ protested on April 28, another group, “Release Our Girls,” emerged.
Mbu said information at the disposal of the command indicated that “dangerous elements’’ were about to hijack the protest, hence the ban.
“As the FCT police boss, I cannot fold my hands and watch this lawlessness. Information reaching us is that soon, dangerous elements will join groups under the guise of protest and detonate explosives aimed at embarrassing the government,’’ he said.
Mbu said a situation where the Fountain of Unity, venue of gathering for the protest, was being turned into a place for “cooking and selling’’ was embarrassing.
According to him, many diplomats live in that area of the territory.
He called on the people of the territory to encourage the security agencies in the war against terrorism and criminality, by appreciating the sacrifices they had made.
Asked whether the ban would not violate the freedom of expression and assembly, the commissioner said one person’s freedom should not affect that of another.
“People have been protesting over a month now…it is the issue of terrorism, it is not solved in one day.
“Then, when you continue to do it persistently, it becomes nuisance to the government,’’ he said
The commissioner also announced the revocation of permits earlier issued for tinted glass vehicles in the territory.
“Yes, there is a period when permits were granted, but the recent security challenges have made the police authority to revisit the issue and have resolved to revoke same,” he said.
Meanwhile, the commissioner has redeployed all divisional police officers (DPOs) in the FCT and directed them to hand over to the next senior police officers in their respective divisions.
The FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Altine Daniel, told newsmen that the decision was taken after the commissioner met with the DPOs on Monday.
Human rights lawyer activist, Festus Keyamo, on Monday, condemned the ban on protests in Abuja, over the kidnapped Chibok girls.
In a statement, he said “the statement credited to the FCT Commissioner of Police, banning all protests over the kidnap of the Chibok schoolgirls is unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.”
Also, former Minister of Education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, said the “Bring Back Our Girls” campaigners will go to court today, to seek a restraining order against the police.
On her Twitter handle on Monday, Ezekwesili said “the FCT Commissioner of Police has no power to ban peaceful assembly of any group of persons in the city.”
A leading human rights organisation in Nigeria, the Committee for Democracy and Rights of the People (CDRP), also condemned the action of the FCT Commissioner of Police.
In a statement signed by the action national coordinator of the group, Saka Waheed, it said the ban was unwarranted, condemnable, unconstitutional and antithetical to all democratic norms.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos State chapter, on Monday, said the Federal Government could go ahead with the ban it placed on protests over Chibok girls in Abuja if it had sufficient security reasons, but quickly added that it doubted such was the situation as obtained with mere peaceful rallies being done by Nigerians to express their concern regarding the abducted schoolgirls.
The state publicity secretary of the party, Mr Joe Igbokwe, said this in his reaction while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune on phone.
“I don’t think a mere peaceful protest where people come to make speech that the abducted schoolgirls should be released by Boko Haram could constitute security threat,” he said.
“If the government has sufficient reasons, they can go ahead with the ban. But I don’t think they have, they might just be playing pranks,” he added
Meanwhile, many Nigerians took to Twitter on Monday to condemn the ban on the protest as announced by the FCT police commissioner, while vowing that they would storm the venue of the rally to day to continue demanding the release of the abducted schoolgirls.
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