Another lawyer and activist, Inibehe Effiong, also argued that the police lacked the power to stop the labour from protesting as no court could have issued any order to stop any Nigerian from protesting.
Effiong said, “I do not think any court in Nigeria can give an injunction against people from protesting. That will be an affront to the constitution. If by Monday the police or the State Security Services say they are acting in furtherance to the order of the court to stop
members of the labour movement from coming out to get their members to protest the hike in pump price and electricity tariff, it will be a flagrant attack on the constitution.
“There is no institution in Nigeria that can stop Nigerians from exercising their rights that have been granted them by the constitution.”
The lawyer also contended that the labour unions were justified to go ahead with the strike if they had not been served with the court order stopping the industrial action.
He, however, advised that if the labour leaders had been served with the court order, they should first take steps to have the order vacated.
Effiong, who expressed reservations about the court orders stopping the strike, noted that such orders had not always been effective in stopping similar industrial actions in the past.
He advised that “the judiciary should be sensitive to these issues, so that it does not put itself in a position where it would become a subject of public ridicule”.
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