IBADAN, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – The Lagos Division of the Federal High Court has restrained Peter Obi’s Labour Party (LP) and its supporters from using the Lekki Tollgate as a base to hold the ‘Obidatti23 Forward Ever Rally’.
The rally scheduled to be held on October 1, 2022, suffered a setback on Wednesday as court ruled that supporters of the Labour Party can pass through the Toll-Gate for its rally but must not converge on the facility.
The presiding Judge, Justice Daniel Osiagor, also directed the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, to ensure compliance with the order.
This followed a lawsuit filed by a group of legal practitioners, who sought to halt the rally, specifically in Lagos, Nigeria’s most popular metropolitan city, to avoid a reminiscence of the #EndSARS protest in 2020.
The lawyers, through their lead counsel, Temilola Awosika, had filed a motion at the Federal High Court, asking that Mr Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, be barred from using the Lekki Tollgate for their rally.
They told the court that holding the rally would cause a breakdown of peace and will result in post-traumatic stress disorder for them and the public.
In the suit marked FHC/L/CS/1729/2022; Mr Obi, Labour Party, Baba-Ahmed, the Inspector General of Police, police commissioner in Lagos, SSS director-general, Lekki Concession Company Limited, Lagos attorney-general and the governor of Lagos, were among those joined as defendants in the case.
Last Friday, the court fixed 28 September for the hearing the Motion.
The judge fixed the date after listening to the arguments from the plaintiffs and respondents’ counsels on the mode of service of court processes, among others.