Subsidy Protest: Court Hears Falana’s N500m case Jan. 16

Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of a Federal High Court in Lagos has adjourned further proceedings till January 16, 2016 in a suit filed by human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), against the Attorney General of the Federation.
Falana is seeking compensation in the sum of N500m from the AGF for the alleged violation of his right by military men during the fuel subsidy protest of January 2012.
He is urging the court to declare that the military, being agents of the Federal Government, violated his fundamental rights when they prevented him from joining others at the Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Park in Ojota, Lagos, on January 16, 2012 to protest the removal of fuel subsidy.

He claimed to have been affected, as a motorist who bought fuel from time to time, when the Federal Government under former President Goodluck Jonathan increased the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit from N65 to N141 per litre in 2012.
He claimed that though he had participated in the fuel subsidy protest between January 9 and 13, 2012, he was however stopped on January 16, 2012 at Maryland on his way to the protest ground by armed soldiers who barricaded the road and ordered him to return home.
In a 17-paragraph affidavit deposed to by himself, Falana said, “When I tried to convince the armed soldiers to allow me to join other protesters at the Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Park at Ojota, Lagos State, the respondents’ agents barricaded the road and prevented me from proceeding with the journey from Maryland to Ojota in Lagos State.

“By restricting my movement, the respondents’ agents did not allow me to express my opinion based on new facts at the rally on Monday, January 16, 2012.
“The applicant was prevented from enjoying his freedom of movement when he was unlawfully ordered to return to his residence by armed agents of the respondents.”
Falana, who recalled that he took part in several demonstrations against the policy of the military regimes between January 1984 and May 1999, said the soldiers who stopped him on January 16, 2012 from protesting against the removal of fuel subsidy caused him mental and psychological trauma.
“As a result of the action of the respondents I suffered mental and psychological trauma having played a leading role in the struggle for the restoration of democratic rule in May 1999,” he said.

December 25, 2015