The National Association of Nigerian Students has called for the withdrawal of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria title of the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
This was following the comments made by the minister earlier on Wednesday, in Abuja, where he described as illegal, the blocking of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway by the protesting students.
FortisTV NEWS gathered that NANS had since Tuesday, embarked on a protest grounding the traffic-laden Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as they demanded that the Federal Government resolved the ongoing strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities so that students can resume academic activities.
NANS, in a statement released late Wednesday, signed by its National Public Relations Officer, Giwa Temitope, asked the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee in Nigeria to withdraw Fashola’s SAN title.
“We have been informed that the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, openly said that: ‘The right to protest is a very well-protected right in our Constitution, but it does not include the right to inflict pain and inconvenience on other people. And so, whilst the protests can go on, they should refrain from blocking the road in order to do their protests. That in itself is a violation of law.
“The statement above shows that the Minister is enmeshed in a big contradiction in terms of what the law says. He tries to trivialise a very important issue by watering down the law. Asides from the clear nature of the letters of Section 2 of the Constitution on Fundamental Human Rights, Fashola should tell us how a protest is stated to “inflict pain and inconvenience on other people?”
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Nigeria international, Calvin Bassey, in an interview with Dutch publication, Het Parool, says Ajax Amsterdam’s victory over Glasgow Rangers on match-day one of the UEFA Champions League was ‘bitter-sweet.”
The Dutch champions last week convincingly defeated Bassey’s old teammates 4-0 in what was the Nigerian’s first Champions League appearance.
The versatile defender was impressive during the encounter and also provided the assist for the third goal to cap what was a brilliant Champions League debut.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s fixture against Liverpool at Anfield, the former Rangers player admitted it was difficult putting his friends to the sword.
“I consider the Rangers FC players to be my friends,” Bassey told Het Parool, via Ajax Fanatics.
“I played with them for two years, shared joys and sorrows. And it is not easy to hurt friends so much. But for me personally, and my family, it was a beautiful evening.”
The 22-year-old defender became Nigeria’s most expensive defender in history when he joined Ajax for £19m following an impressive 2021/22 season with the Scottish giants.
During his two-year spell with Rangers, with whom he won the Scottish Premiership in 2020-2021, the Scottish Cup the following season and reached the final of the Europa League, Bassey made an astonishing 65 appearances.
It was his display with Rangers last season that earned him a move to Ajax.