Movement restriction during elections is illegal, says Adegboruwa

Activist lawyer , Mr Ebun- Olu Adegboruwa , has warned the police against restricting human and vehicular movements on election days , saying it is unconstitutional.


According to him , the Federal High Court in Lagos had in 2014 pronounced that such movement restriction was unconstitutional.


The lawyer noted that despite the constitutional provisions and the pronouncement of the court , the Inspector - General of Police had on Friday, February 15 , ahead of the postponed presidential election, announced the restriction of human and vehicular movements for 12 hours .


He complained that despite that the movement restriction was illegal, the police did not consider it needful to lift the movement restriction even after the election was postponed .


Adegboruwa warned the police against a repeat of the movement restriction order on the new election dates.



He said , “ The Inspector- General of Police did not appeal against this judgment of the court and yet he proceeded to hold people down at home on February 16 , 2019 , contrary to the express order of injunction granted by the court in this case against any repeated illegal practice of keeping citizens indoors .


“ We will therefore not condone or agree with any attempt to restrict people’ s movement illegally on February 23 , 2019 or indeed any other day , by reason of elections . ”


Meanwhile , Socio- Economic Rights and Accountability Project has said the postponement of this year ’ s general elections should be blamed on successive governments since return to democracy in 1999.


In a statement on Sunday by its Deputy Director , Kolawole Oluwadare , SERAP said , “ Given the increasing tendency to postpone elections and the cumulative failures and corruption over the years , SERAP would , after the elections , pursue appropriate legal action against the government in power and the National Assembly leadership for the catalogue of breaches of constitutional and international obligations , and seek effective remedies for the citizens . ”