Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, has expressed disappointment that the masterminds of last month's attack on the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, secretariat in Ado Ekiti, where some state officials of the party were injured have not been arrested and prosecuted weeks after.
Falana called on the Inspector- General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, to step in to arrest and prosecute the criminals to serve as deterrent to others.
The human rights activist, in a chat with journalists yesterday, lamented that thugs and criminals had found their ways back to the state and had been unleashing terror on the land and its people.
According to him, those who carry out the attack were responsible for similar ones in the past, adding that the sponsor, who he described as an erstwhile elected official, killed six persons when he was in office.
"I am disturbed that thuggery is finding its way back into Ekiti State. The architect of this was the sponsor of the recent attack on the secretariat of the PDP in Ado Ekiti. I am surprised that he has not been arrested. The same person killed six persons some years back when he attacked the secretariat.
"We are calling on the police to do the needful, because we want to ensure that the culture of committing crimes with impunity does not continue," he said.
Falana urged the Federal Government to step up efforts at ensuring the security of lives and property through creating jobs for the teeming population of unemployed youths and deemphasising religious extremism.
He said not much has been achieved in the battle against insecurity, especially that "the police are not well equipped to cope with the challenges," couple with the crises of unemployment and ignorance.
The lawyer described the 'deportation' of some destitute and beggars from some states as "conscious, deliberate and unprovoked assault" on the victims, saying it was unfair and illegal to restrict them from living in any part of the country.
Falana, who said some states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, were guilty of 'deporting' some beggars under the guise of development or urban renewal, saying: "No law in Nigeria allows governors to 'deport' anyone.
It is unacceptable to 'deport' and dump poor people. Those building mega cities or embarking on beautification projects should make provision for destitute."
However, he urged the government to address the factors that brought about the conditions that turned the citizens to destitute, adding "nobody would be happy begging on the road."
On the controversy trailing the recent action of the Lagos State government, Falana said: "It will be wrong to restrict the condemnation of illegal 'deportation' to Lagos State because many other states are into this barbaric act.
National Mirror
Inflicting injuries and killing people all in the name of politics is just something that is very 'Bad'. Nigeria has to stop that.