Date Published: 09/11/09

DPA accuses Lagos of human rights abuses, illegal detentions and placing State under siege

The Democratic Peoples’ Alliance (DPA) has accused the Lagos State Government of militarising the state, making indiscriminate arrests, transporting suspects in dangerous prison vehicles and operating an illegal detention centre.

DPA accused members of the Environmental Task Force and the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) Brigade, both in the Ministry of the Environment, of running sparsely-spaced and poorly-ventilated Black Maria vehicles marked “Zero Tolerance” to transport suspects in subhuman conditions. It said too that victims were often detained for periods exceeding the constitutionally-stipulated 48 hours, without any formal notice to their relations or access to lawyers.

In a statement by its Director of Publicity, Felix Oboagwina, Lagos DPA said: “These are methods and vehicles that even the Nigerian Prisons Service now regard as inhuman and have since phased out. Using them violates not only known tenets of democracy but the Human Rights provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and international conventions to which the country is a signatory. These include the United Nations Charter, the African Charter and the Commonwealth Charter.”

Recalling that only the Federal Government had the constitutional power to operate a prison, the party accused the government of operating an illegal detention facility in Potoki, Badagry Local Government of the state.

DPA said better Human Rights conduct was expected from Governor Babatunde Fashola and the Honourable Commissioner for the Environment, Barrister Muiz Banire, two lawyers, directly supervising agencies responsible for these illegal acts.

Citing several indiscriminate arrests perpetrated by agencies of the government, the party recalled the arresting of 39 youths in a football field at Gbagada last month. Each of them was charged N10,000 at the headquarters of the Environmental Task Force at Alausa. Those unable to pay the amount were subsequently detained at Kirikiri Prison and Potoki, Badagry.

Similarly, DPA recalled that late August, in separate incidents, two street traders were crushed by speeding vehicles while fleeing from KAI Brigade operatives trying to arrest them along the busy Fadeyi and Palmgroove axis of Ikorodu Highway.

According to the party, the practice of hoisting people into the KAI Black Maria, was dehumanising. It also challenged the government to cite what section of the Nigerian law and Constitution permitted it to operate a prison facility..

In its words, DPA said: “The government of Mr. Raji Fashola has put Lagosians under serious siege. People trying to make their legitimate living have had their activities criminalised overnight. In Lagos today, flowers receive better treatment than citizens.”

The party asked the government to devote its energy towards curbing the menace of thugs and bus stop touts, whose activities were inimical to the wellbeing of commercial bus operators and their passengers. It also asked the government to concentrate its efforts on curbing the nefarious activities of armed robbers and kidnappers.