Sagay, Aturu, Fasehun differ on Lagos deportation

Two prominent legal practitioners, Prof. Itsay Sagay, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and civil rights lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, on Tuesday disagreed on the properiety of the recent alleged deportation of some beggars to Onitsha, Anambra State, by the Lagos State Government.


Both lawyers spoke separately with our correspondent on the telephone.

While Sagay said Nigerians needed to be sympathetic to Lagos State, which he said had served as other states’ dumping ground for destitute persons for many years, Aturu argued that the alleged deportation by the government was a violation of the Nigerian Constitution.

Sagay dismissed the allegation that the act could be unconstitutional.

He said, “Honestly, I feel very sympathetic to the plight of the Lagos State Government because the state has been the dumping ground for people who have problems in their own state. I think we should be sympathetic to Lagos State.

“I think people are unreasonable when they think Lagos can carry the burden of the whole country.”

However, Aturu said the Lagos State Government should  apologise to Nigerians and pay restitution to the “deported persons”.

He said, “My view is that what Lagos State has done is indefensible and an atrocious violation of the constitution. It is an attack against the poor. It is a gross violation of the constitution. In fact, it is a gross violation of what is decent.”

Meanwhile, Chairman, Unity Party of Nigeria and President, Oodua Peoples Congress, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, has said the Lagos State Government must retrace its steps in the ‘deportation’ of about 70 persons to Onitsha.

Fasehun, who said this at a press conference in Lagos on Thursday, said the state must provide a means for these persons to be transported back into Lagos.