Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, SAN, has responded to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, insisting that his earlier comment on the Minister’s declaration of a public holiday and restriction of movement during the FCT Area Council elections was anchored on relevant provisions of the law.
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In a statement, Falana maintained that the FCT Minister lacks the legal power to declare public holidays, challenging Wike to cite any law that empowers him to do so.
“I wish to state, without any fear of contradiction, that only the President and Minister of Interior can declare public holidays for the entire country or in the FCT while Governors are empowered to declare holidays in the states. The FCT Minister is not so empowered,” Falana stated.
The senior advocate noted that Nigerians, including members of Wike’s own professional constituency, ignored the public holiday declared for Friday.
“It is interesting to note that Nigerians did not observe the holiday last Friday. Members of his own professional constituency ignored the holiday as the courts in the FCT sat and heard cases. The security forces did not enforce the holiday,” Falana said.
Falana posed several questions to the Minister regarding his own compliance with the restriction order.
“By the way, did the Minister comply with the restriction order on Saturday? Did he register to vote in the FCT? Did the restriction order permit him to move around during the restriction of movement? Did the restriction order permit him to interfere in the election by interrogating electoral officers?” Falana asked.
The senior advocate dismissed Wike’s defence that President Tinubu authorised the restriction of movement, describing it as illegal.
“The Minister’s defence that the President authorized him to order the restriction of movement is illegal as the President lacks the power to give any order with respect to the conduct of any election in Nigeria,” Falana stated.
He drew the Minister’s attention to Section 160(1) of the Constitution, which provides that “the powers of the INEC to make its own rules or otherwise regulate its own procedure shall not be subject to the approval or control of the President.”
Falana challenged the FCT Minister to cite the legal basis for his actions.
“I challenge the FCT Minister, Mr. Nyesom Wike, to refer to any law that empowers him to declare a public holiday or restrict the movement of citizens during the just concluded area council election,” Falana stated.
The exchange follows comments by Minister Wike on Sunday after meeting President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, where he asked Falana not to always comment on every issue.
“With all due respect, Femi Falana must not always comment just because he wants to comment. Comment on something you know about and have facts on. You can’t just wake up and hear somebody said this, and you can’t even verify before you make comments,” Wike had said.
The Minister had defended the restriction of movement, saying it was approved by President Tinubu based on security reports.
“It was Mr President’s approval that movements should be restricted because of a security report that people were trying to bring in hoodlums. It’s not everything you must comment on. And if you must comment, go and find out and know what actually happened,” Wike stated.
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