Following the controversy that surrounded Comedian Abovi Ugboma wearing a shirt which had a symbol of the Nigerian flag to the 14th headies, Constitutional lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has said that the law “does not prohibit or penalise the use of the flag for an artistic, intellectual or expressive purpose.”
Inibehe stated that “Bovi did not even carry the Nigerian flag. What he wore was a cloth. People don’t wear flags.”
He went ahead to tell theCable that ‘the representation on the cloth that he wore, has nothing to do with that law. The law they are talking about cannot undermine constitutional rights as a symbol of expression.’
“If I decide to use the national flag as a symbol of protest, I cannot be prosecuted for that. That is a law that has no place under the current constitutional regime. That law is unconstitutional and invalid because section 39 of the constitution guarantees freedom of expression.
“What that law purports to prohibit is abusing Nigerian flag or using it for certain purposes. The law does not say you cannot draw the Nigerian flag on your cloth or in your book or you cannot make a representation of the Nigerian flag in your house.
He said the Act refers to a “physical flag that can be felt and touched”.
“If you look at the colours on Bovi’s cloth, it was not just green white green. There was red on the cloth. If he argues that what he wore isn’t the Nigerian flag, can a contrary argument be made? I can say that it is a cloth in multiple colours.
“If we are to look at it from the technical definition of a Nigerian flag, what makes that a representation of the flag? It was a cloth and if that cloth has a design with colours associated with the Nigerian flag, I don’t think that offends any law.”
Recall that the cloth was a symbol of the Nigerian flag which was stained in blood during the killing of unarmed peaceful protesters on the 20th day of October 2020.
Source: the Cable
