#FearlessInOctober: Organizers of #EndBadGovernance demand immediate release of nine people arrested by Police at Gani Fawehinmi Park Ojota, Lagos
The #EndBadGovernance Movement in Lagos State has demanded the immediate release of nine protesters arrested during the #FearlessInOctober demonstrations in the state.
In a press statement sent to TV360Nigeria on Friday morning, the movement accused the Nigeria Police Force of indiscriminate arrest of the protesters at Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota, Lagos, on Wednesday, October 2, 2024.
The statement identified the protesters as 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).
It added that the police also took away a Toyota vehicle with registration number SRA 813 XB during the operation.
The statement reads: “The #EndBadGovernance Movement, Lagos State, condemns the arrest of 9 people at the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota, Lagos by men of the Nigerian Police Force on Wednesday, 2nd October 2024. We hereby demand their immediate and unconditional release.
“According to information available to us, the 9 persons were reportedly arrested for converging at the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota on Wednesday October 2nd because they believed the October 1st protest was going to continue the next day.
“Among those arrested were 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). A Toyota pickup, with registration number SRA 813 XB, was also impounded.
“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.’”
The movement said 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 find 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,” it added.
