Lagos: The Centre for Human and Socio-Economic Rights (CHSR) has called for an independent investigation into the deployment of teargas canisters against protesters displaced by ongoing demolitions at the Lagos State House of Assembly. This demand for accountability follows an incident on Wednesday where protesters, advocating against the demolitions, were allegedly dispersed using force.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the residents affected by the demolitions are from communities such as Makoko, Oworonshoki, Otumara, and Baba Ijora. The protesters, carrying placards with messages like ‘Stop the demolitions’, ‘Stop punishing the poor,’ and ‘Our lives also matter’, were reportedly met with police resistance. Zikora Ibeh, Assistant Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), accused the police of arresting several protesters, including a youth leader named Hassan Taiwo, also known as Soweto.
Ibeh condemned the alleged detention of protesters and the firing of teargas to disperse the crowd. He further claimed that lawmakers witnessed as protesters were dragged and mistreated by police officers at the assembly complex. In contrast, Mr. Stephen Ogundipe, the Assembly’s Spokesman, denied any involvement of the House in ordering the use of tear gas or the arrest of protesters. Ogundipe stated that the protesters rejected dialogue and attempted to forcibly enter the Assembly complex.
Reacting to the incident, Alex Omotehinse, President of CHSR, demanded the immediate release of Hassan Soweto and other detained protesters. Omotehinse criticized the Assembly’s statement, which he labeled misleading, regarding the suppression of peaceful protesters. He emphasized that the protest was peaceful, and there was no attempt to storm the complex.
Omotehinse highlighted that media reports, eyewitness accounts, and video evidence confirm the protest’s peaceful nature. He asserted that the protesters were exercising their constitutional right to peaceful assembly, demanding dignity and accountability. He also mentioned that protest leaders, including Hassan Taiwo, urged calm and discipline among the protesters, who peacefully sat on the floor during the demonstration.
Omotehinse recounted that during this peaceful assembly, security operatives launched an attack using teargas against unarmed citizens. He criticized the Assembly’s attempt to distance itself from police actions, stating that silence or deflection amounts to complicity.
The CHSR President emphasized that the right to peaceful assembly is guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution and called for a public retraction of misleading statements by the Lagos Assembly. He also noted that the Assembly recently endorsed the ongoing demolitions, making its denial of the incident unsurprising to CHSR.