Falana Warns Against Military Presence On Streets During Lockdown

Human Rights lawyer, Femi Falana, says that the dispatchment of soldiers to cities where the lockdown is observed is illegal.

President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered the lockdown of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos, and Ogun States on Sunday to take effect on Monday.

But the restriction has received some backlash from lawyers who say that the restriction of movement in those cities is not legally backed.

Falana, in a statement, said that the president is rightfully doing what he should to protect the citizens against the further spread of the virus, however, "the plan to dispatch armed soldiers to the streets to enforce the COVID-19 guidelines should be shelved because it is illegal."

“Following the national broadcast of President Buhari on the COVID-19 pandemic, some lawyers have questioned the constitutional validity of the restriction of locomotion of people in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states. No doubt, the President is empowered to adopt any measures deemed fit to combat the dangerous disease but such measures have to be spelt out in a Regulation made pursuant to section 305 of the Constitution or under the Quarantine Act. Otherwise the presidential order on restriction of movement in the affected areas cannot be enforced by the police,” Falana said.

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“However, while the nation’s armed forces should be commended for making their medical facilities available to members of the public in the fight against the highly dangerous virus the plan to dispatch armed soldiers to the streets to enforce the COVID-19 guidelines should be shelved because it is illegal.

“For the umpteenth time, I am compelled to draw the attention of the military authorities to the case of Yussuf v Obasanjo (2005) 18 NWLR (Pt ) where Salami JCA (as he then was) held that “It is up to the police to protect our nascent democracy and not the military, otherwise the democracy might be wittingly or unwittingly militarized. This is not what the citizenry bargained for in wrestling power from the military in 1999. Conscious steps should be taken to civilianise the polity and thereby ensure the survival of and sustenance of democracy.”