Mr Femi Falana
A Lagos-based lawyer and former President of the West African Bar Association (WABA), Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has condemned the governors of some states, who have engaged in the relocation of the destitute from the states where they lived to their various states of origin, describing the action as illegal.
Falana, while speaking with journalists in Ado-Ekiti Sunday, said the relocation of some beggars by the Lagos State Government was contrary to the provisions of the constitution which stated that Nigerians could choose to live in any part of the country.
According to him, virtually all the states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were guilty of the offence.
Falana, who said the state governments had no moral right to relocate the people from their states of residence to their states of origin because they were beggars, said Nigeria itself was a beggarly nation because its leaders always go cap-in-hand to beg for aid from even countries that were poor.
He said: “It will be wrong to restrict the condemnation of illegal relocation to Lagos State because many other states are into this barbaric act. The relocation of some beggars by the Lagos State Government to Anambra State was illegal, it is against the constitution.
“But you will see this hypocrisy, Anambra State that is kicking against this, relocated 29 beggars to Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi States in December 2011. Rivers State relocated 113 Nigerians to their different states. Akwa Ibom State is about to relocate two mad men to Lagos State now. How did they know that the mad men are from Lagos State. Mad men who can't reason well. The FCT is the guiltiest of them all."
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