The Residents of Enugu State have continued to react to the recent ban on tinted glasses for vehicles plying state roads by the state government.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ban was announced through a memo signed by Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Chidiebere Onyia. In separate interviews with NAN on Wednesday in Enugu, some legal experts expressed different views on the legal implications of the pronouncement and it’s work-ability.
A civil rights lawyer, Olu Omotayo, said that the pronouncement was unimplementable because it was not backed by any law.
“It remains a mere pronouncement by the executive, it has no backing of the law and therefore cannot be implemented by the state government.
“It is the constitutional responsibility of the Nigeria Police Force to ban the use of tinted glasses, ” he said.
According to him, the task force set up by the state do not have the legal power to either prosecute or fine offenders. Also speaking, a constitutional lawyer, John Nwobodo, said the state had the right to put measures in place to check insecurity in the state.
He, however, said that the issue of tinted glasses, by law, was the sole responsibility of the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
“It will be difficult to implement that law because it is only the IGP that can take that responsibility.
“The state can only succeed if they co-opt the security into it but it will be difficult to implement at the state level,” he said.
He said the constitution required that offenders be charged to the Federal High Court, which the task force lacked the powers. Another resident, Mr Ignatius Orji, said that the pronouncement was ambiguous and very difficult to implement without the legal instruments by the State House of Assembly.
“It will bring confusion and a lot of people will resist it due to it’s flimsy nature.
“I am certain that many lawyers will challenge it’s implementation in court,” he said.
Orji advised the state government to collaborate with the IGP, to fine tune whatever plans it had to check insecurity in the state.