AKEEM NAFIU 
AKEEM NAFIU writes that the freezing of accounts belonging to the alleged sponsors of #Endbadgovernance protest by the Federal Government has elicited mixed reactions from lawyers
Some senior lawyers have expressed divergent views on the legality of Federal Government’s decision to freeze the accounts of alleged sponsors of #Endbadgovernance protest across the country. Those in support of the action were of the views that government might have been guided by the intelligence reports at its disposal.
They added that the Federal Government’s action was equally fuelled by the brigandage, arson, unlawfulness and other acts of criminality that accompanied the protest in some parts of the country. However, those who are opposed to the Federal Government’s action opined that it is illegal to freeze people’s accounts without a valid court order.
The Federal Government had last week announced its intention to put the diaspora sponsors of #Endbadgovernance protest under watch list, while also frozen their Nigerian accounts. The decision was made public at a combined news conference by the heads of security agencies and Service Chiefs convened by the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, at the Defence Headquarters.
Speaking on the government’s action, Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Kemi Nandap, told journalists that her agency has put some identified diaspora sponsors of the protest on its watch list. She added that those on the watch list will be arrested once they are in Nigeria.
“Any attempt they make to come into the country, we will be notified and they will be picked up and handed to appropriate authority”, Nandap said. She added that the NIS, had in response to the protest, deployed more officers to borders, both land and airports, to ensure effective manning of the entry ports, saying this was done to step up surveillance to prevent foreign intervention in the country.
Speaking in the same vein, the Director General, Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, disclosed that the secret service is on the trail of the sponsors. Bichi, who was represented at the occasion by the service’s spokesman, Peter Afunanya, said investigations showed that some of the persons operating accounts from where the protest is being funded were staying abroad and they were being monitored.
“The service is also working with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to identify more persons behind the funding of the protest. Some bank accounts have already been blocked”, he added. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, also revealed that the police had uncovered some sponsors whom he alleged were in diaspora.
The IGP who did not give further information on the sponsors, however said some of their accounts have been attached. In his speech at the occasion, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Christopher Musa, said the joint news conference was put together to show the synergy in the operations of the military and all other security agencies.
He revealed that the military and other security agencies will go only after those bent on destabilising the nation’s democratically elected government. Musa said: “I want to appreciate Nigerians for their understanding, for their commitment to upholding the law and order. We have had issues in the past few days, but you
Sponsors accounts were blocked owing to intelligence reports
can see that people have seen reason for us not to continue with the destruction, to stop the looting, to stop giving opportunities for others to subvert our nation and to destroy our nation.
“They have also seen reasons to join hands with the security forces to make Nigeria better. We want to assure that we, on this side, are fully committed to Nigeria, we love the country, we are mindful of the fact that we have been equipped and so we are duty bound to protect the country.
We are only after those that are against the states, not those that are innocent. “So, I want to make that very clear and we will continue to work together as a team to support Mr. President in achieving his mandate of peace and tranquility in our dear country, Nigeria”. On his part, the Chief of Army Staff, Taoreed Lagbaja, said the army is committed to deploying resources to combat the protests which have turned violent in some parts of the country to ensure sustainable peace.
He assured that the violence has not diverted the military’s attention from its main operational commitment in combating terrorism and banditry. In his remarks, Chief of Naval Staff, Emmanuel Ogalla, expressed the Navy’s readiness to prevent every subversive elements sponsoring violent protests from taking over Nigeria.
While noting that Nigerians have a constitutional right to protest, Ogalla declared that the armed forces also share in the hopes and aspirations of citizens for better governance. He said: “The armed forces are constitutionally charged with the responsibility of defending the nation from both internal and external aggressions and protecting the sovereignty of this country.
“When we see people protesting against bad governance and poverty, and we see other people calling for unconstitutional change of government and people calling for foreign intervention, it shows some of these protesters are not exactly what Nigerians were made to believe.
“It is obvious to us that many of these protesters are sponsored by subversive elements who are bent on disrupting the peace that we have enjoyed for the past 25 years of democratic governance.
“For that reason, as part of our constitutional responsibility of protecting Nigeria’s sovereignty, we stand ready to provide needed assistance to the Nigerian police to ensure order is restored to all parts of the country where the violent protests have started”.
Protest organizers’ denial
In a twist, organizers of the #Endbadgovernance protest have denied receiving financial support from any foreign donor. They described the Federal Government’s allegation of foreign sponsors backing as unfounded and untrue.
Speaking through Omole Ibukun, a leader of the Network of Abuja Left Groups, the organizers also denied being bankrolled by prominent opposition political figures in the country.
The protest organizers denied any link with a former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as well as the presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi. Ibukun advised Federal Government to look into the demands of the protesters which borders on high cost of living and rising insecurity, instead of crying wolves where there is none.
Lawyers speak
In the meantime, a cross-section of senior lawyers have expressed mixed feelings on the freezing of accounts belonging to the alleged sponsors of #Endbadgovernance protest by the Federal Government. While some of them threw their weights behind the government’s action, others were critical of the action.
In his reaction to the Federal Government’s decision to place sponsors of #Endbadgovernance protest on watchlist, while also freezing their accounts, a professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Awa Kalu, posited that since it is a security matter and the government has its intelligence report on the development which may have prompted the decision to block the accounts of such identified sponsors, then the government may be in order.
On his part, Babatunde Ogala (SAN), while insisting that the laws of the land guarantee peaceful protests, said: “And I don’t think the Federal Government has ever said otherwise. “In the build-up to the protest, the police, the president’s spokesmen, alongside all of us, were aggrieved and agreed that peaceful protest is permitted by law.
“And even the Inspector General of Police (IGP) had meetings with the organizers of the protest led by Femi Falana (SAN) and Ebun OluAdegnoruwa (SAN) who attended the meeting with the IGP. “There were equally subsequent court orders that confined the protest to certain areas, notably Freedom Park in Ojota, Lagos and the stadium in Abuja.
“So, there is no law that says protests are unlawful where they are peaceful. However, where there are security implications, and it is found like we saw that brigandage, arson, unlawfulness, and some that even border on treason and criminality were being committed under the guise of protest, the law enforcement agencies are empowered to step in.
“If for anything, we must commend the police and the Federal Government for giving the protesters all the security cover that they were given even when they defied orders of the court and elected to march from the National Stadium into the city, the police escorted them.
“In Lagos, they gathered under the Ikeja bridge, the police escorted them to Freedom Park and there were no incidents. “But when criminality sets in, as we saw in Kaduna, Kano, in parts of Bauchi and in Maiduguri, certainly, the law enforcement agents and the government cannot sit and watch.
“And where there are security reports and suspicion and hard evidence that funds are being channelled through some accounts to fund these criminalities, the government has the power in accordance with the law to put a check and put a stop to these illegal activities, to the criminality, by arresting the source of the funding.
“Since that is what has been done, it is perfectly in order. The police and the DSS have the right and the powers to act in the way they have acted in the national interest.
“You can imagine a situation where people fly the flags of other countries; we heard people calling for the change of government through other means other than democratic means; those are treasonable offences, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) said.
“It borders on treason, it borders on sedition, and no responsible government will sit and watch that happen. “No responsible military will do so, nor will any responsible security organisation, body, or law enforcement agents watch that happen under its jurisdiction.”
In his submissions, another member of Inner Bar, Olalekan Ojo, who said he does not know the facts available to the Federal Government and by extension, the DSS, suggested that “If all that some Nigerians in the diaspora did was to support peaceful protest, then if peaceful protest is constitutionally legal, and we are all on the same page as to the constitutionality, as to the legality of peaceful protests, therefore, supporting peaceful protest which is constitutional, and which is legal cannot constitute a crime.
“Don’t forget that before any act, any conduct can be said to constitute a crime, that act must have been prohibited by a law either enacted by the National Assembly or the State Houses of Assembly and
People’s accounts cannot be frozen without a valid court order
the penalty for the violation of that law is specified in the written law. “So, where in the law in Nigeria that says it is a crime to support a peaceful protest? “However, should there be any evidence to the effect that Nigerians in the diaspora are sponsoring or promoting hatred against the government or inciting some Nigerians to rise against the government, that is a crime because treason or treasonable felony is a crime in the Nigerian law.
“So, everything depends on the evidence at the disposal of the Federal Government or any of the security agencies. “If they have been incited, or they are being incited to bring about the change in government in a manner not authorised by the constitution, then that is a crime.”
However, voicing his opposition to the government’s action, a rights activist, Kabir Akingbolu, condemned Federal Government’s action, saying peoples accounts cannot be frozen without a court order and reasonable grounds. Akingbolu said: “In any movement of this nature, there will be people who are sympathetic and will be willing to put down their money, such an action cannot be criminalized by anyone.
A peaceful protest can be sponsored by anyone and that cannot amount to any offence. So, I think freezing of someone’s account without hearing from him or her amounts to rights violation.
This is a democracy and peoples rights must be respected. “On the issue of placing the alleged sponsors under watch, this is not wrong if there is a reasonable suspicion of any sinister motive. This does not neccesarily mean any offence has been committed”.
Corroborating Akingbolu’s views, Stephen Ubimago stated that Nigeria is a democratic nation where the people constitute the sovereign. According to him, protest is one of the ways through which the people participate in their government because this is a democracy. In his words: “If these were a military dictatorship, I would say yes it is a crime to sponsor protests. This military dictatorship did not arise because the people put the government there.
So, the military can harass people, and they choose and as they will or fancy. “Under Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution, there is a right of free association, and even also under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which Nigeria is a signatory, the right to protest is a right inherent in a democratic environment.
“That the people have voted government into place does not mean the people have abdicated. Indeed, the fact that it is the people who voted for the government means that the people are the principal and the government is the agent. “And so the people have not abdicated, the people can protest in a democratic environment. I do not think there is any law which empowers the government to criminalise peaceful protests.
“But what we normally have in Nigeria is that usually, you might have infiltration of the protest by persons who are sometimes sponsored by the government. “But in principle, there is a right inherent in a democratic setting and indeed under our constitution for people to peacefully organise themselves and protest, particularly if the protest is directed at the government.
“There is hunger everywhere. How should the people vent their displeasure? The only way the people can ventilate their dissatisfaction is to organise themselves, and then do a normal protest”.
He posited further that sponsoring protests could only be a crime if the protest itself is a crime, adding that anyone whose account has been frozen should seek redress in court and bring an action for the enforcement of his or her fundamental rights and claim compensations and damages from the government.
“To protest peacefully is indeed a right under our law, except the government can show that the monies that came from the alleged sponsors were used for violence”, Ubimago added. For Mary Pam, it’s illegal for the Federal Government to block accounts of some Nigerians in the diaspora, suspected to be sponsoring protests in the country.
Pam said: “It is illegal for the Federal Government to freeze the account of people being suspected to be sponsoring protests. The government is not even sure, it is only suspecting that some Nigerians in the diaspora are sponsoring it. “The act of sponsoring protests is not an illegal act because protest itself is a civil right of the people”.
