Mr Festus Okoye, a lawyer and human rights activist, said on Monday that Nigerians do not require police permits to hold peaceful rallies.
Okoye was reacting to reported police attack on Sen. Magnus Abe (APC-Rivers).
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna that the act of obtaining permit from police before holding rallies was unconstitutional.
Okoye said that there was nowhere in the Constitution or the laws of the country where it was written that a permit must be obtained from security operatives before holding any rally.
He faulted the explanation given by the Rivers Police Command for aborting the APC rally, saying it negated the provision of Section 40 of Nigeria’s Constitution, which guarantees the fundamental rights of citizens.
According to him, the action also disregards the Supreme Court judgement which ruled against obtaining permits for rallies in a case between the CNPP and the Police.
The human rights activist said the police was only responsible for providing security to protect Nigerians during such rallies.
He advised security agencies and politicians against taking democracy for granted by behaving unconstitutionally.
“If this issue is not properly addressed it may pave ways for anti-democratic forces to abort our democracy,” Okoye said.
