Falana intervenes as police open venue of #RevolutionNow symposium

Femi Falana

Police have opened the venue for a symposium by a pro-RevolutionNow group, Coalition for Revolution (CORE), hours after sealing the building.

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, who is among the headliners for the event, on arrival at the venue on Monday, forced the operatives to open the building, saying it is a violation of their fundamental human rights.

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The symposium was billed to hold at 46 Ibijoke Street, Oluyole bus-stop, Oregun, Lagos with the theme “Democracy, State Repression and the State of insecurity in Nigeria”.

It is not known if Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, and other major headliners would still attend the event.

Police had put the building for the symposium on lockdown before the 11 am kick-off time.

A BBC reporter was reportedly taken into custody and made to delete footage in his camera and other multimedia equipment.

The building was, however, opened after the police agreed to do a body search before allowing people in.

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In a statement, the CORE said: “This is the response of a so-called civilian government to a symposium. No wonder the country is sinking deeper into crises.”

The RevolutionNow movement had been spearheaded by the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, before his arrest and detention by the Department of State Services (DSS).