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CAPPA Slams Lagos State Government for Insensitivity to Plight of Displaced Residents
By prince Benson Davies
The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has strongly condemned the violent crackdown on peaceful protesters by the Lagos State Government and the Nigerian Police Force. The protesters, who were displaced by recent demolitions and forced evictions, had gathered at the Lagos State House of Assembly to express their grievances.
According to CAPPA, the police led by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Moshood, attacked the protesters with tear gas and violent force without provocation. The organisation reported that several protesters were injured, and some were arrested, including Comrade Hassan Taiwo Soweto, a member of the #EndBadGovernance Movement in Lagos State.
CAPPA described the incident as a flagrant violation of constitutional rights and a continuation of what it called the Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led administration’s pattern of repression, lawlessness, and cruelty against poor and displaced communities. The organisation demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all protesters detained during the protest.
The organisation also called on the Lagos State Government to immediately suspend the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Moshood, over his role in destabilising a peaceful protest and ordering the use of force against unarmed citizens. CAPPA further demanded the immediate return of all personal belongings, work tools, and electronic devices seized or stolen from protesters and journalists by police officers during the crackdown.
CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, was quoted as saying that the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful protest were guaranteed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and protected under international human rights law. He added that there was no legal, moral, or political justification for the use of tear gas or force against unarmed citizens and journalists exercising their rights.
The organisation warned that it would not hesitate to mobilise civil society, affected communities, and the wider public against what it described as escalating state injustice if its demands were not met.