•Warn your children against unlawful assembly –Police

•Why Tuface backed down

By Christopher Oji and Lukman Olabiyi

Organisers of One Voice Nigeria March, insisted, yesterday, the protest will go ahead, after musician, Innocent Idibia, popularly known as Tuface, backed out yesterday  morning.

Today’s rally was organised by EnoughisEnough Nigeria and 2face Foundation to protest the country’s economic crisis, amid rising food prices.

The protest is scheduled to hold across some states of the Federation, while that of Lagos is billed for the National Stadium, in Surulere.

Tuface cited “security reasons and public safety” for backing out of the protest.

“Dear Nigerians, due to security concerns and public safety consideration, I, hereby, announce the cancellation of the march.”

His decision came  a day after Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo’s Senior Special Assistant (Media), Laolu Akande, said Tuface has the right to protest. Akande stated this on his tweeter handle: @akandeoj; “it is fundamental right of the people. This administration will not prevent Nigerians from expressing themselves in peaceful protests,” Akande said, although he went further to question the logic behind the protest, judging by the efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to invest in the welfare of the people. Last week, the Nigeria Police Force warned against the protest, after an initial promise to provide security.

In its reaction to Tuface’s cancellation, EnoughisEnough insisted it will proceed without the musician.

In a tweet through its official handle, @EiENigeria, at 11:19pm on Saturday, February 4, the group said:“We respect @official2baba’s security concerns but the marches in #Lagos & #Abuja will go ahead. #IStandWithNigeria #OneVoiceNigeria.”

But, some Nigerians are saying the protest has gone beyond Tuface and that they will go ahead with the rally today.

Regardless, Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Fatai Owoseni, had earlier said they will not allow the protest to hold because it could be hijacked by hoodlums and “it is illegal.“

Yesterday, however, police, backtracked, but warned the public against the protest.

In a statement signed by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Jimoh Moshood, the police advised “members of the public, parents and guardians, religious/opinion leaders and other interest groups to prevail on their children and wards, followers and adherents not to allow themselves to be used by any group to cause disturbance of public peace and break down of law and order.”

“To this end, the Force advise strongly that Tuface and his group should shelve the planned peaceful demonstration in the interest of peace and security.

“When contacted, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police Mr Fatai Owoseni said, a lot has been said about the planned protest. “Let everybody read from all that has been written about the protest. I don’t have any other thing to add or say.”

Former Education minister, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili also added her voice to the protest. In a series of tweets on Sunday morning, she called on president Buhari to allow Nigerians cry out their pains.

On her twitter handle, @Obyezeks, she tweeted: “Mr. Pres @MBuhari, Mr. VP @ProfOsinbajo, allow the people of your land cry out their pain (today). Listen, empathise and rethink policies.”

Explaining further, the former minister decried police’s claim that it can not secure participants at the protest.

“Your government cannot secure your citizen who want to gather and speak their pain to you? Haba! Haba! The people of your Land are crying out in pain. Ask God for wisdom to give them a good answer,” she added. Rights activist and legal practitioner, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa had, last Friday, knocked the police over its pronouncement on the protest.

“Citizens do not require police advice to exercise their fundamental rights guaranteed to under the Constitution. However, it is gratifying that the police is gradually shifting from its previous position of feudal lords, by which it had threatened innocent citizens with brute force.

“Second, the police has no power in law to countermand or, indeed, override the lawful directives of the Acting President, which has affirmed our constitutional right to assemble together freely, unhindered and unmolested, for a peaceful protest. Under section 5 of the Constitution, all executive powers of the Federation, are vested in the President, and in this present case, the Acting President, who is authorised to give lawful directives, as he has now done, to sanction peaceful and lawful protests.

“Third, the Nigeria Police Force, is established under section 215(1) of the Constitution, as part and parcel of the Executive, headed by the President, in this case, the Acting President. By section 215(3), the President or Acting President shall give and issue lawful directives to the Police. By section 215(5), the directive of the President or Acting President, to the Police, cannot be questioned or disobeyed. This is so because under section 218(1), the President or Acting President, as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, has the overriding power, to determine the operational use of the Armed Forces of the Federation.

So, it is disturbing and alarming for an institution, such as the police, that was set up to be under the Executive, headed by the president or the acting president, to defy lawful directives of the acting president, openly and with such brazen impunity.”

The planned protest gained momentum with several public figures and civil society groups pledging to be part of it on Monday.

Tuface called for nationwide protest against what he claimed as the worst economic crisis in the country which saw the costs of goods and services skyrocketing, with many families struggling to survive.