No political office holder in Nigeria, be they governor or minister has constitutional powers to demolish buildings.
So, is the declaration of renowned lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana.
He has as a result called on Nigerians to rally and expose any individual exercising such an act.
to actively expose private individuals and public officials who contravene the provisions of the Anti-Torture Act 2017.
The human rights lawyer who spoke against the gale of demolitions in both Abuja and Lagos, said the act was illegal, and a gross violation of the fundamental rights of Nigerians to own property.
“Under our constitutional arrangement, no governor or minister has the power to wake up one morning and order that someone’s house be demolished”, he said, while on an Arise News programme
“The law requires that statutory notices be issued, complaints heard, and the proper tribunal or court must decide before any demolition can occur”.
Falana indicted the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Lagos State Government as lacking in the constitutional powers to embark on such demolitions.
“The provisions of Chapter Four of the Constitution are sacrosanct.
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“They cannot be breached under any guise — not even by ministers or governors claiming to restore order,” while using Section 43 of the Nigerian Constitution to substantiate his point.
The provisions, reinforced by reinforced by Article 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Senior Advocate held, guarantee every citizen the right to acquire and own property anywhere in the country, a right also
Accusing the Lagos State government, he stated:
“In the Lagos case, our law firm obtained a restraining order from the High Court.
“The order was duly served on the government, yet, in the dead of night, bulldozers rolled into Oworonshoki. That was a clear contempt of court.
The renowned lawyer also raised the hopes of litigants in the case of illegal demolitions of getting justice at the end of the day.
“Even under the military, the courts insisted that due process must be followed.
“What we are seeing now is worse. You cannot demolish people’s homes while they are asleep, tear-gas their houses, and claim to be enforcing the law. We are not in Gaza”, he declared on the programme.
Cami Ezenwa is a Writer, Editor, Publicist, Biographer and Journalism Trainer
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