THE NATION TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012
31
LAW & SOCIETY
NBA Ikeja protests subsidy removal
T
HE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, last week in Lagos, protested the removal of petroleum subsidy in the country. The lawyers marched from the Bar Centre in Ikeja, to the Lagos State Secretariat at Alausa to hand their protest letter to the government for onward transmission to President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja. The protesting lawyers went to the Governor’s office first before marching to the State House of Assembly. In a chat with The Nation during the protest, Chairman of NBA Ikeja Branch, Bamigbe Omole, said: “This protest is about the unjust removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government led by President Goodluck Jonathan. Said he: “We are protesting the removal because it is unjust, illegal and unconstitutional. “ We want to let the government know that power belongs to the people and as such, Nigerians have spoken and said no to fuel price hike, no to the removal of oil subsidy. That is what Nigerians are saying. “This removal of subsidy has seriously and adversely affected the generality of Nigerians. “Nigerians travelled home for New Year’s celebrations, many of them are still there, only for them to wake up on the first day of January 2012, to hear that the Federal Government has removed fuel subsidy. So what is the result? A lot of people are stranded back home. They cannot conveniently go back to their places of work. “Government must go along with the people of Nigeria, because power belongs to the people. We voted this government into power. It is not for the government to dictate what is good for us. We decide what is good for us by ourselves. “Nigerians are saying this removal of fuel subsidy must not stay. There must be no fuel price hike. If the government wants to do anything at all, let them revert to the previous N65 per litre. On the ongoing strike by the Labour Unions and Civil Society, Omole said: “Nigerians are involved in the strike, whether you’re in private sector, public sector, civil service, entrepreneur, self-employed and professionals, everybody is involved. We are calling on all Nigerians to come into the street, wherever your town is, wherever you street is, whatever your status or calling is, come out to the streets and sit down there. There should be no movement. That is what we are saying.” Another member of Ikeja branch, Mrs Funmi Falana, said: “Ikeja Bar has always been a pace setter. What we are doing is to tell Nigerians that we are behind them, to tell Nigerians that the Law is behind them, to tell Nigerians that they have the constitutional right to protest this injustice; this oppression, that the hike in fuel prices resulting from the removal of oil subsidy is illegal, and, therefore, oppressive. ‘’Nigerians should reject it. From experience, no bad leader will give you your right except you fight for it, except you demand it. It is the custom of our people to be intimidated, but we want to let Nigerians know that we, as lawyers, know the law. We know what is good in the society. ‘’That is why we have come out to tell Nigerians that the law is behind them and we, lawyers, are behind them. They should come out in their numbers to resist this oppression. On what they want to achieve with this, she said: “Fuel prices should revert to the former price of N65 per litre. “There is no justification for this increase, no justification for the removal of
•NBA Ikeja lawyers protesting subsidy removal
•The lawyers carrying placards
•Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s son, Mohammed, on wheelchair during the protest
PHOTOS: JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU
By John Austin Unachukwu
oil subsidy.” On the purported economic gains of the subsidy removal, Falana said: “But from experience, we know that this is not true.During Obasanjo regime, subsidy was removed for about eight times and there was nothing good to show for
it. All we want to remind Nigerians and let them know is that our leaders are corrupt and are insensitive to the plight of the masses, they are selfish, self-centred, so we must reject this oppression. “We must reject any move that would make them to increase this subsidy.’’
On the planned strike by Labour groups and Civil Society groups, Falana said: “Everybody should support this strike. We should make it impossible for the government to remove the subsidy because it is our right to press for our constitutional right. That is what we are doing.”