Femi Falana
BY LANRE AKINSOLA
I have just read an article on the back page of Thisday of March
11, 2019 authored by Mr. Femi Falana SAN with the above as its
title.
In making a case for politics of inclusion in Lagos State, the
learned senior advocate made reference to what he described as “the
politicisation of the 2013 expulsion of beggars and destitute from
Lagos by the Babatunde Fashola administration.” He went further to
say that: “the anti-poor policy acquired an ethnic coloration when
47 beggars and destitute of Anambra State of origin were expelled
from Lagos.
With respect, I consider the references made by Mr. Falana
needless and irrelevant to the points he strove to make in his
article. The fact is that at no time were people –whether beggars
or not- ever expelled or deported from Lagos during the time of Mr.
Babatunde Fashola as governor of Lagos State.
For the sake of those who might have not been aware of what
transpired in 2013 which Mr. Falana referred to as “anti-poor
policy” of the Lagos State Government, as well as those who might
share Mr. Falana’s perception of events, I consider it imperative
to respond to Mr. Falana, if only to put the records straight. This
is more so that a court of competent jurisdiction – the Federal
High Court – had made a definitive pronouncement on the subject in
a case which I believe Mr. Falana ought to have been aware of.
Following the decision of the government to assist those who
indicated their intention to return home, a number of cases were
instituted on their behalf against the government. These include:
Suits No. FHC/AWKS/211/2013, ID/736M/13, FHC/L/CS/1369/13,
FHC/L/CS/1218/2013 and FHC/L/CS/1218/13, amongst others.
In none of these cases was Lagos State government or Mr.
Babatunde Fashola ever indicted.
For example, in dismissing Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1218/2013
Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda v. Lagos State
Government on December 5, 2014, the Federal High Court [Coram
Justice Musa Kurya} found that contrary to the allegations of the
applicants, the Lagos State Government did not deport them or any
other person or group of persons to any place outside the territory
of Lagos State.
In that case, the applicants’ claim for “the sum of
N1,000,000,000 [One Billion Naira] damages as compensation to the
applicants from the Respondents jointly and severally for unlawful
violation of the applicants’ constitutional rights” was found to be
without merit having regard to the court’s finding that Lagos State
did not ‘deport’ the applicants as alleged.
As a matter of policy, Lagos State Government caters for the
welfare and wellbeing of all residents of the state irrespective of
their state of origin. In furtherance of this policy, the state
government does its best to ensure that residents are gainfully
employed and properly accommodated so that they do not constitute
themselves into destitute, vagrant and beggars.
What happened in 2013 was that Lagos State Government rescued a
number of people from different parts of the state while they were
living under bridges and by roadsides, and others who were engaged
in other social vices with no discernible means of livelihood or
physical address in the state.
The affected individuals, who could not provide details of their
places of residence or location of their businesses in the state,
were taken to Lagos State Rehabilitation and Training Centre at
Majidun – a facility established by the state government to
rehabilitate and give vocational training to residents for the
purpose of making them useful members of the society. At the
centre, they were provided with opportunities to acquire vocational
skills in tailoring, carpentry, craft making, bead-making and
interior decoration, amongst others
Upon satisfactory completion of the skill acquisition
programmes, they were given every reasonable opportunity and
assistance to make contacts with members of their families for the
purpose of releasing them into their care to ensure that they did
not return to the streets.
Returning home was a decision of those individuals who did not
have discernible place of residence or relations in Lagos State and
who indicated their desire to return to their home state. They were
requested to provide details of their home states to enable the
government to make necessary provision to hand them over to their
respective governments who would in turn assist to reintegrate them
with their families.
This, in fact, is an established practice amongst state
governments in the country. State governments regularly hand over
rescued individuals to their home states for purposes of
rehabilitation and reintegration with their kith and kin. On many
occasions, states had handed over a number of Lagosians to the
government for rehabilitative purposes.
I believe that with the decision of the court given more than
four years ago, the issue of what happened in 2013 had finally been
settled.
Even against this isolated one-off suspicion of alleged
exclusion and alleged deportation, there are daily recurring
incidents of people from other states enjoying and benefiting from
government policies of free health and non-discriminatory access to
educational and economic opportunities in Lagos State from time
immemorial to date. Even in some other federations that we aspire
to be like, such accesses are not taken for granted.
I believe that these acts of inclusion need to be appreciated,
applauded, saluted and spoken more about than suspicious acts of
isolated exclusion which a court of competent jurisdiction had
ruled upon as unfounded.
Lanre Akinsola, a legal practitioner, writes from Lagos