Lagos denies signing executive order on environmental sanitation

Lagos State government has denied signing an executive order on environmental sanitation.

“The information about a so-called “Executive Order” on Environmental Sanitation in Lagos State … This information is untrue and should be totally disregarded pls,” Jubril Gawat, a media aide to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said on Twitter.

The rebuttal followed a viral social media post claimed that the state government has reinstated the monthly sanitation exercise on last Saturday of every month through an executive order signed by Sanwo-Olu-Olu

“I wish to inform you that environmental sanitation is now back to Lagos on every last Saturday of the month, starting from 7 am -10 am,” the social media posts.

The monthly exercise which restricted human and vehicular movements in Lagos was nullified on March 16, 2015, by a Federal High court presided by Justice Mohammed Idris.

The court held that there is no law in force in Lagos State by which any resident could be kept indoors compulsorily.

The judgement was in a suit filed by Lagos lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, against the Inspector-General of Police and the Lagos State Government challenging the restriction of human movement on the last Saturday of every month for the purpose of observing environmental sanitation.

The judge said the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria grants freedom of movement to every citizen, and as such, freedom cannot be taken away by executive proclamation in the absence of any law to that effect.