A prominent Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, on Wednesday described the Federal Government’s tagging of the promoters of the #EndSARS protests as terrorists as unlawful, unconstitutional and insensitive.

Ozekhome, who said he found it hard to believe that the CBN made such a claim in the application filed to obtain the court order freezing the accounts, noted that the rights to protest were guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution.

He said,

“Who is saying that peaceful protests on the streets of Nigeria by Nigerians, who are constitutionally entitled under sections 37 and 38 of the Constitution to protest, to assemble, to associate, to move freely, to kick against bad government policies, to demonstrate on the streets peacefully, to sing, to dance and to hold rally, are terrorism? Who is the person saying that these amount to terrorism? What can this government not do to give a dog a bad name so as to hang it?

“So, the government does not know that the herdsmen are the real terrorists? The government does not know that Boko Haram members are the real terrorists? The government does not know that the rampaging kidnappers are the real terrorists? The government does not know that the bandits are the real terrorists? The government does not know that those in government stealing the commonwealth belonging to the people are the real terrorists?

“It is insensitive; it is immoral; it is illegal; it is unconstitutional; it is unlawful; it is wrongful for the government, through CBN or any agency, to tag peaceful protesters as terrorists. It is most unfortunate and saddening.”

He also said the blocking of the bank accounts of the campaigners was an attempt by the Federal Government to intimidate the various state governments to express views contrary to its own via the various panels of inquiry to investigate the root causes of the protests.

Ozekhome stated,

“What happens to the various judicial panels of inquiry set up by the various state governments like Edo, Lagos, Ondo, and Ekiti to look into the root causes of these protests and what can be done? The Federal Government is already intimidating the states by already condemning the #EndSARS campaigners by blocking or freezing their accounts and tagging them as terrorists. Do you expect any state government panel to come with views that run contrary to the views of the government of Muhammadu Buhari?”