Nigerian court stops military's operation for citizens to show "positive identification"
Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) – A Federal High Court in Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos on Tuesday ordered the suspension of the nationwide military exercise, tagged Operation Positive Identification (OPI), which the Nigerian Army has billed to last from last Friday, November 1, to December 23, 2019.
A human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, had on October 25 filed a suit against the Nigerian Army, the Chief of Army Staff and the Attorney-General of the Federation, asking the court to declare the operation scheduled for November 1 to December 23 as unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.
Despite opposition from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and harsh criticisms from Nigeria’s House of Representatives, the Nigerian military had on Friday kicked off the exercise.
The Army's Theatre Command Operation Lafiya Dole (OPLD) had previously commenced OPI on Sunday, September 22, 2019 in the Northeast region against Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists.
Army Spokesperson, Colonel Sagir Musa, had in a statement on Wednesday, September 25, said OPI would be extended across Nigeria to help checkmate bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers, ethnic militia, cattle rustlers, as well as other criminals.
The nationwide implementation of OPI coincided with the simultaneous ongoing training exercises which kicked off October 7 and will last till December 24, 2019. They include Exercise AYEM AKPATUMA II (Northcentral and parts of Northwestern); Exercise ATILOGWU UDO 1 (Southeast) and Exercise CROCODILE SMILE IV (Niger Delta region and parts of Southwest).
On Wednesday, the Army in a social media post described as “Fake Alert,” a viral post on the operation released by a private company which had advised Nigerians to obey all directives of the military and to move around with valid means of identification, including voter’s card, national identity card, driver’s licence, international passport or other valid official identification.
However, the Army Spokesperson, in another statement last Friday, complained that the private company asked residents to be ready to witness large numbers of uniformed Nigerian Army personnel parading the roads. He added that “NA has never issued press release through private companies or third parties because it has a full-fledged Directorate that coordinates its public relations and Information.”
Despite these information confusion, Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, on Thursday told the House Committee on Army that the operation was proceeding as scheduled but will not hinder the day-to-day activities of Nigerians.
Represented by Army Chief of Civil-Military Affairs, Major General Usman Muhammed, Buratai said “it is a training exercise and at the same time, it is a true operation whereby we use the opportunity to carry out activities to checkmate criminality and crime within those areas. This time around, we feel that we can extend the OPI to some of these areas where we are going to conduct some of these exercises. The exercise is nothing too different. It is something that is going to assist us add value to what we are doing in the Northeast.”
Buratai assured that the rules of engagement would thoroughly be observed as there would neither be extra check points nor additional troops on the streets or highways.
However, at the hearing of the court case instituted by Mr Falana on Tuesday, the Nigerian Army and the Chief of Army Staff, who were listed as 1st and 2nd respondents in the matter had no legal representation. But Mr Falana informed the court that they were duly served and that he had spoken with their counsel on a -probable date to commence substantial hearing of the matter.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, who was represented by Mr Fiyinfoluwa Sobowale from the Ministry of Justice, sought an adjournment, saying that they would be applying for a suitable date to enable them properly respond to the issues.
Mr Falana, however, insisted on the closest date possible, arguing that the case was time-bound and there would be no point in the case if the parties continued with their actions while the matter is yet to be heard in court.
He stressed that the only way the date suggested by Mr Sobowale would be acceptable is if the ministry agreed to ensure that the status quo is maintained.
Agreeing with Mr Falana, the trial Judge, Mr Rilwan Aikawa, said that due to the nature of the case, a delay would reduce the case to a mere academic exercise.
Delivering his ruling, Mr Aikawa said ”in view of the agreement between counsel, I hereby order the 1st and 2nd defendants to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the case.”
He also adjourned the matter to November 18 for the substantive hearing of the matter.
In his suit, Mr Falana argued that the operation violates his right and that of other Nigerian citizens to liberty, “as encapsulated in Section 35 respectively of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as Amended and Article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, (Cap A10) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
He also argued that the respondents have no constitutional authority to act in the proposed manner. “Neither the Constitution nor the Armed Forces Act Cap A20 LFN, 2004 has empowered the Nigeria Army to arrest any citizen who is not subject to service law. By virtue of Section 215 (3) of the Constitution, the Nigeria Police Force ‘has the exclusive power to maintain law and order and secure public safety and public order in the country’ and not the Army.”
He further argued that by section 217(1) of the Constitution, the Nigerian President could only deploy the armed forces for the suppression of insurrection and acting in aid of civil authorities to restore law and order, arguing that since there is no insurrection in any part of Nigeria, nothing warrants the deployment of armed troops across the country from November 1, 2019 to December 23, 2019.
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