By Lukman Olabiyi
Rights groups, lawyers and activists have condemned the detention of 49 Yoruba nation agitators arrested on Saturday July 3 in Ojota, Lagos by the men of the Nigerian Police. 
Police  had on July 5, took the detainees to the State Magistrates’ Court to secure an order to further  detained the protesters in its custody pending investigation but the action, has attracted wide criticism.
Different rights groups and lawyers have also called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo SAN, to call police order and not to undermine the constitution of the country.
Kunle Adegoke SAN, was among the lawyers who condemned the detention of the protesters, said action of the police amounted to violation of human rights and breach of the constitutional right of the protesters.
He said there is no section of the constitution that restrained citizens from staging peaceful protest, nor attached condition to staging of  protest.
A Yoruba delf-determination group, Yoruba Ko’ya Liberation Movement (YKLM), also shared same view with various stakeholders who condemned the action of the police.
The group, in a statement issued by its Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Oluwajuyitan, also called for the release of the detained protesters.
Similarly, in a statement issued by Olasupo Ojo, the President of Centre for the Rule of Law, giving detail of how the protesters were allegedly unlawfully arrested, but called for their release.
” we hereby call on the Governor of Lagos State and the Attorney General of Lagos State, within whose territory the violations occurred and is continuing, to intervene immediately and prevent further injustice under their watch by halting any further abuse of the rights of the victims presently languishing in over-stretched police custody and ordering their release without further delay. We also urge all lovers of justice and freedom worldwide to prevail on them to do the needful rightly”, the statement read in part.