On 11 March, Hassan Taiwo Soweto, member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM – CWI Nigeria) and spokesperson of #EndBadGovernance Movement Lagos, and Dele Frank (Arole Fela) are expected to appear before a magistrate court for the commencement of a sham trial on the trumped-up charges preferred against them by the Lagos State Police Command over their participation in a peaceful protest.
The charges include conspiracy to cause a breach of peace, threatening violence, unlawful assembly, obstructing traffic, and singing abusive songs against the police and government! We call for the dropping of these charges as the trial is an attempt to use the court to legalise brazen attacks on democratic rights and criminalise peaceful protest against anti-poor actions of the government.
Soweto and Dele Frank were arrested and subsequently detained during a mass protest against unjust demolition and forced eviction of several poor peoples’ communities in Lagos on 28 January. The protest was brutally repressed by the police, leading to many protesters sustaining injuries.
For playing a leading role in the protest, Soweto was specifically targeted and singled out for physical assault and severe torture by the police – an action that was directly supervised by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Moshood.
We call on trade unions, civil society and left organisations, socialists and activists, locally and internationally, to join us to resist the attempt by the police and Lagos state government to annul the right to protest in the state. It is in line with this that we call for different forms of solidarity actions on or before 11 March, including demonstrations and protest letters and messages to call on the Police and Lagos State government to withdraw the frivolous charges against Soweto and Dele Frank.
