Falana to court: order removal of deadly trailers on Lagos bridges

* Court to deliver judgment May 6

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday fixed May 6 for
judgment in a suit by activist-lawyer Mr Femi Falana (SAN) against
the Minister of Works Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and the Federal Road
Safety Commission (FRSC).

Falana is praying the court to order the removal of all
obstructions on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, including deadly
trailers and tankers, and to repair it.

Falana is also seeking a declaration that “the parking of
tankers and trailers on the overhead bridges in Lagos is illegal
and unconstitutional”.

He said such acts “constitute a threat to the fundamental right
to life of the applicant and other motorists” as guaranteed by
Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 4 of the African
Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

Justice Muslim Hassan fixed the date after parties adopted their
final addresses.

Falana, a former Committee for the Defence of Human Rights
(CDHR) National President, sued the defendants over the deplorable
condition of the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

He is seeking a declaration that the respondents’ failure to
remove obstructions on the road and to repair and maintain it is
illegal and unconstitutional as it constitutes a threat to his
fundamental right to life.

He said the failure to make the road safe for motorists violates
his and others’ right to freedom of movement guaranteed by Section
41 of the 1999 Constitution.

In a supporting affidavit, the SAN, who was a former West
African Bar Association (WABA) President, said many of the federal
roads across the country were in very bad shape, including the
Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.

“I also know as a fact that the traffic situation on the
Oshodi-Apapa Expressway today is unbearable and a dreadful risk to
lives of the motorists plying through the roads,” he said.

The applicant said the deplorable state of the expressway “has
in recent times caused multiple deaths through recurring
accidents”.

According to him, commuters plying the road risk their lives due
to the heavy-duty vehicles that are stranded on the road “due to
the level of dilapidation”.

“Vehicular movement along the road has become a misadventure and
a nightmare that the applicant often regrets venturing into each
time he plies the road.

“Long before the bad and dilapidated state of the road, it used
to be less than 30 minutes’ drive from Oshodi to Apapa, but now the
traveling time exceeds one hour,” the applicant said.

Falana said last February, while traveling back to his Ikeja
office after a prison visit, he almost had an accident whilst
navigating through a big gallop on the road and almost hit an
oncoming vehicle.

The applicant sought an order directing the respondents to
remove all obstructions on the expressway and to repair and
maintain it forthwith.

Falana prayed the court for a declaration that he is entitled to
his fundamental right to life guaranteed by the Constitution and
the African Charter.

But, in its response, the Minister of Works denied Falana’s
claims, saying the road “is under rehabilitation”, adding that it
was not the cause of the gridlock in the axis.

Fashola, in an affidavit deposed to by a litigation assistant in
the Ministry of Power, Works & Housing, Ayodele Otedola,
claimed that a suit filed by the Road Transport Employers
Association of Nigeria “has since 2010…caused the slow progress of
work to rehabilitate the road for efficient use of motorists.”

The first respondent said Falana’s claims were not true, adding
that the Apapa gridlock “is always caused by tanker drivers who
normally follow the route to the port for the purpose of loading
and offloading their goods”.

Fashola said: “The failure of the first respondent to repair the
road as alleged by the applicant has not in any way restricted or
breached his freedom of movement.”

The Minister of Works said Falana’s life was not under threat;
that failure to fix the road was due to “paucity of funds”, and
that the rights sought to be enforced were not justiciable.

“The applicant has no locus standi to sue as he is not
representing a class action and on whose behalf he is suing. He has
not shown that he has suffered over and above other motorists and
people that use the road,” the minister said.