Lawyers call on people to rise against evil policies of government

 Christopher Oji

The lawyers who spoke at the weekend at the Ist  Commemorative Lecture of the Anti-Land Use Charge 2018 Protests held at Zen Garden, Ikeja , Lagos, organized by Radical Agenda Movement in the Nigerian Bar Association (RAMINBA) and the Progressive Bar Forum, said , without the collective will of the people ,the fight against evil  government

Policies  would not succeed.

In  his welcome speech, former President of NBA, Ikeja branch , Mr  Adesina Ogunlana, who is also  the Chairman of RAMINBA,  said the event was put together to celebrate the success of the protest that was held against Government Akinwunmi Ambode’s led administration over the land use charge law in 2018.

According to Ogunlana: “there were massive protest in Lagos State against the government in year 2018 where we protested thrice and walked out on the members of the House of Assembly because they were wrong in all they did about the land use act.

“The reason why we did that was because we couldn’t go to court due to the urgency of the matter, we assured Lagosians then that they should not pay the tax and they didn’t pay until the Governor Sanwo-Olu led administration announced that the tax has been reversed to the old bill because they have lost billions of naira due to unpaid taxes since people were not paying.The Progressive Bar Forum (PBF) also provides immediate  support to achieve the feat.

“The reason why we are celebrating is also because it is not always the case when a Government reverses itself in Nigeria. It’s to entrenched this legacy and also to encourage people who are coming behind to resist any evil government policy. We are celebrating the will of the people. Everybody should rise up anytime we call on them to support us in the fight against injustices “.

The President- elect of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata, said  that a great change would definitely  occur in the country, if people start asking the right questions from the leaders and authorities.

Akpata alongside Ogunlana, Richard Akinnola, and other eggheads further added that when the public/masses challenges the authority, they won’t arrogate themselves as always being right because there would  always be an alternative opinion among the people which may be the correct opinion.

The  guest lecturer, Mr Richard Akinnola , who talked the   themed:”Maximizing The Potentials Of The Enlightenment Of The Middle Class In The Struggle For A Proper Nigeria: The Successful Anti-Lagos State Land Use Charge Law 2018Protests As An Exemplar, said , there was  need for a very strong and connecting link between the ruling class who are the policy makers and the public in order to reduced the tendency of imposed policies from the top.

Akinnola ,also said that an enabling environment should be created while public awareness be created and the Civil society and the mass-public should be given the opportunity to present their proposals for policy making and implementation whereby the nexus between the government and other professional bodies will be connected.

“As members of the power elite, we should no longer bury our head in the sand in view of overwhelming odds and challenges that face our nation. We must all get on our feet to get involved.

“Conflicting interest amongst the power elite when they differ sharply in ideological settings, self -serving interest and the manipulation of the instrument of policy making creates gap or missing link in the structure of public polity formulation and implementation in Nigeria.

Akinnola further added that it’s quite sad that Nigeria is now said to be the poverty Capital of the world with insecurity everywhere. “We are daily faced with tales of kidnapping, armed robbery , banditry , terrorism , electoral heists and grand corruption.

He also submitted that it is the power of the  elite in the society that can make the difference.