A Lagos resident and lawyer, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has filed a suit seeking to stop monthly environmental sanitation in Lagos State.
The suit filed before a Federal High Court in Lagos could not be heard on Tuesday due to absence of respondents, who have yet to be served the court processes.
The lawyer is seeking a declaration that the restriction of his movement and that of other residents of Lagos State on monthly sanitation days violates their right to freedom of movement.
The Inspector-General of Police, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command; the state Governor and Attorney-General are joined as respondents in the suit.
The other respondents are the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment and the state Ministry of the Environment.
Justice Mohammed Idris ordered that hearing notices should be served on the respondents.
He adjourned the case to January 28, 2015 for commencement of hearing.
Lagos State holds environmental sanitation from 7a.m. to 10a.m. on every last Saturday of the month.
The state government restricts movement of people and vehicles during the period.
In his affidavit in support, Adegboruwa averred that he had been restricted on many sanitation periods from going out.
He said that on June 28, 2013, he was invited by Channels Television at Isheri North for a programme at 9a.m. the following day, which was the last Saturday of the month.
“The following morning, June 29, 2013, I set out from my house at Lekki to honour the invitation.
“At the Ketu Interchange on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, I was arrested and detained by some policemen on the grounds that the monthly environmental sanitation was going on.
“The expressway was blocked by some policemen, and some officers of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) used their pick-up vans to also block the road to hinder movement.
“I have a monthly arrangement with Alba Nig. Ltd., one of the companies licensed by Lagos State to clear refuse; they deploy their trucks to my house regularly to dispose of all the waste generated by my household.
“I am aware that the sixth respondent (the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment) has granted several other private firms the right to manage waste disposal in Lagos State.
“I verily believe that the restriction of human and vehicular movements constitutes a breach of the fundamental human right to freedom of movement as guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter on Human rights,” he averred.
Adegboruwa averred that there was no law in Lagos State approving compulsory detention of citizens at home from 7a.m. to 10a.m. on the last Saturday of every month for the purpose of observing the sanitation.
He is also seeking an order directing the respondents to allow the applicant and other residents of Lagos State to move freely on the last Saturday of every month in exercise of their fundamental right to free movement.
