The right to protest is embodied in different sections of the constitution and it cut across right to the right to freedom of thought and conscience and religion as provided in S 38, and also embodies the rights to freedom of expression and voicing of different opinions as provided in S 39 followed by the right to peaceful assembly and association as also provided in S 40 and it is finally crowned by S 41 which provides for the right to freedom of movement.
These constitutional provisions were again clearly made and re-emphasized by the Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday having declared that the arrest of the renowned activist Mr. Omoyele Sowore during his 2019 “revolution now” protest was illegal and conflicts with his fundamental human right of freedom of association, freedom to join or organize a pressure group, freedom of movement, right to peaceful assembly as all provided for in Sections 38, 39, 40 and 41 of the constitution.
The court at the course of the judgment also went ahead to rule that the clamp down on the 2019 “revolution now” protest led by Omoyele Sowore by the Department of State Security and other security forces of the state was unlawful and unconstitutional.
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Every citizen of Nigeria has it as his or her inalienable right to publicly register his displeasure with the government using the pressure group as long as the activities do not breach any security apparatus of the state and this right should never be taken away from citizens.
The Department of State Services (DSS) had arrested Sowore with some of his comrades on August 2, 2019, after using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the group and abort their protest. Sowore was subsequently granted bail by the court but despite being granted bail by different courts, the agency refused to honor the court bail to release the activist from their detention until December 2019.
In response, Mr. Sowore through his lawyer filed a suit praying the federal high court to award him the sum of N500 million as monetary damages against the DSS for the “violation of his fundamental human rights, unlawful arrest and detention by the security forces, illegal violation of his fundamental right to life, violation of his right to dignity of his person, violation of freedom of movement and violation of freedom of association as all provided and guaranteed by the Constitution.
The Federal high court yesterday, ruled in the favour of the applicant and held that the actions of the law enforcement agencies against his person did amount to the breach and violation of the applicant’s fundamental human rights and 1 million naira was awarded as monetary damages in his favor against the DSS as a compensation.
Before this August judgment, earlier in December 2021, Justice Anwuli Chiekere, of the federal high court sitting in Abuja, had ordered the DSS to pay the sum of N2 million as general damages to Sowore over the unlawful seizure of his phone in 2019 and tampering with his right to privacy and his property without not just cause