The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has condemned the reported use of tear gas and excessive force against elderly pensioners who gathered at the Lagos State Government Secretariat and House of Assembly complex in Alausa, Ikeja, on Monday, demanding payment of outstanding pension adjustments, wage awards and other entitlements.
In a press statement issued Tuesday, RULAAC’s Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, said multiple media reports indicated that police officers deployed to the protest fired tear gas, “causing some of the elderly protesters to disperse.”
The Lagos State Police Command has since denied that its personnel used tear gas on the pensioners, a discrepancy the group says demands urgent scrutiny.
“This conflicting account makes an immediate, transparent and credible investigation imperative,” the statement read.
RULAAC said it aligns with human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, who has urged the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Disu, to identify and hold accountable any officers found responsible for the incident.
The organisation stressed that peaceful protest is constitutionally protected, citing Sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantee freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. It also referenced a Court of Appeal ruling in Inspector-General of Police v. All Nigeria Peoples Party & Ors, which affirmed that Nigerians do not need police permission to exercise this right.
“The Police Act 2020 equally envisages a police institution whose responsibility during peaceful assemblies is to protect citizens, maintain public safety and facilitate the lawful exercise of constitutional rights — not suppress them,” the statement noted.
RULAAC warned that if investigations confirm tear gas was deliberately used against elderly protesters who posed no threat, the action would amount to “an unacceptable and disproportionate use of force” and a departure from professional policing standards.
“It is particularly disturbing that elderly citizens who devoted their productive years to public service could allegedly be subjected to force merely for demanding benefits they believe are legitimately owed to them,” Nwanguma said, adding a pointed reminder to officers: “Police officers should also remember that they too will retire someday.”
The group is calling on the IGP to order an immediate probe, including a review of video footage, photographs, eyewitness testimony and police operational records, to determine who commanded the deployment, what instructions were given, and whether the use of force met legal standards of necessity and proportionality. It said officers or commanders found to have acted unlawfully should face disciplinary or criminal proceedings.
RULAAC also urged the Lagos State Government to “urgently engage the pensioners in good faith” and resolve their outstanding entitlements, insisting that elderly citizens who served the state “deserve dignity, dialogue and justice, not intimidation.”
The statement framed the incident as a test of the current police leadership’s commitment to reform.
“The Inspector-General of Police should ensure that the truth of what happened at Alausa is established publicly and that accountability follows wherever wrongdoing is established,” Nwanguma said.
