The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has criticised the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command for issuing an advisory urging the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to reschedule its planned peaceful protest, describing the move as an infringement on constitutionally guaranteed rights.
In a press statement signed by its Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, RULAAC said it had reviewed the police advisory, which cited alleged security concerns, and found it troubling despite its “conciliatory language.”
“While RULAAC acknowledges the duty of the Police to protect lives and property, we are concerned that the advisory, though couched in conciliatory language, amounts in effect to a prior restraint on the constitutionally guaranteed right to peaceful assembly,” Nwanguma said.
RULAAC stressed that peaceful protest is a fundamental right protected under Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as well as Articles 10 and 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, both of which Nigeria has ratified.
“These rights do not require police permission, nor may they be suspended based on speculative or undisclosed intelligence,” the organisation stated.
The rights group noted that Nigerian courts, including the Supreme Court, have consistently held that the police’s responsibility is to facilitate and secure peaceful protests, rather than to prohibit, postpone, or discourage them.
RULAAC also expressed concern over what it described as a recurring pattern of citing potential infiltration by “non-state actors” as justification for advising against lawful protests.
“The possibility of criminal infiltration does not invalidate a peaceful protest; rather, it triggers the duty of the Police to deploy professional, intelligence-led policing to isolate and address any unlawful conduct,” the statement read.
“Transferring the burden of potential security threats to protest organisers undermines constitutional freedoms and risks shrinking Nigeria’s civic space.”
Reiterating the responsibilities of law enforcement agencies, RULAAC emphasised that the right to protest includes the freedom to determine the time, place, and manner of a protest, subject only to lawful, necessary, and proportionate restrictions.
“The Police are obligated to provide security for lawful protests, even when such protests are inconvenient or critical of government policies,” Nwanguma said, adding that any restriction must meet strict constitutional tests of legality, necessity, and proportionality.
The organisation called on the FCT Police Command to refrain from actions that could discourage or delay lawful protests and urged it to engage constructively with the NLC to agree on appropriate security arrangements.
RULAAC also asked the police to deploy adequate personnel to protect protesters, residents, and public infrastructure, and to ensure that policing of the protest, if it proceeds, is “professional, restrained, and compliant with human rights standards.”
“Public safety and fundamental freedoms are not mutually exclusive,” the statement concluded. “In a democratic society, the proper response to a planned peaceful protest is not postponement, but protection.”
RULAAC said it stands in solidarity with Nigerian workers and all citizens exercising their constitutional right to peaceful assembly, urging the police to fully uphold their mandate under the Constitution and the law.
