I Have Compiled 32 Court Orders Disobeyed By Nigerian Government – Falana

 

 Femi Falana (SAN) says he has compiled a list containing 32 court orders which were disobeyed by the Nigerian government.
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   The Human rights advocate said this in an interview on Channels Television breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily. He also tasked members of Nigerian Bar Association of Nigeria (NBA) to rise up to their duties. He added it is not the responsibility of a president or even an attorney general to handpick which court order to obey.

  “In my latest compilation, I’ve compiled about 32 court orders being disobeyed flagrantly by the government of Nigeria which is not in line with the rule of law. “It doesn’t lie in the mouth of an attorney general or the president of a country to choose and pick which orders of court to obey. “When you do that, you are reducing the status of the country to a banana republic. And that is why the bar has to rise up now and take its rightful place,” he said.

  Falana warned that unless proactive steps are taken, nobody will respect the rights of Nigerians because “there is no penalty for impunity in our country.” During the interview, Falana said that Human Rights, the Democracy and Rule Of Law are not all taken seriously in Nigeria. He blamed this on the NBA and noted that it is stated clearly in the constitution of the NBA that human rights and the rule of law be defended. “The official bar and the private bar have not taken the issue of human rights and democracy or even the rule of law seriously.

  “We have a new human rights regime in our country on paper that can be compared with that of any civilised or advanced bourgeoise democracy“For instance, under the current political dispensation, no Nigerian shall be detained in any detention center in Nigeria without an inspection, monthly  inspection of the facility by a chief magistrate or a judge of the federal high court. In other words, you can no longer have indiscriminate arrest and detention,” he said.

  The constitution provides that anybody who is arrested by the police shall be taken to court within 24 or 48 hours. Falana said illegal arrest of many Nigerians occur on a daily basis in Nigeria and Nigerian lawyers should be burdened by this. The law, he said, provides that before you search or arrest a Nigerian, you must obtain a court order from a Federal High court.