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The Nigerian Bar Association has pledged to provide free legal services to Nigerians harassed by the police over the controversial tinted glass permit, describing it as illegal.
Through its Section on Public Interest and Development Law, the association said the police lacked constitutional powers to impose fees or annual renewals on motorists, insisting that the enforcement amounted to an unlawful, revenue-driven scheme.
In a statement on Thursday, the Chairman of the NBA’s Public Interest Litigation Committee, Olukunle Edun (SAN), said:
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“We shall invoke the powers of the court to ensure that the Nigeria Police Force does not trample on the rights of Nigerians. Any citizen who is harassed by the police in the purported enforcement of the illegal tinted glass permit should feel free to contact any of the NBA branches.”
Edun explained that Human Rights Committees in the association’s 130 branches nationwide were ready to offer pro bono services. He noted that the police could generate at least N3bn in a month from the collections, turning the force into a revenue agency instead of focusing on crime.
The association also reminded the police of a pending suit before the Federal High Court, Abuja, challenging the legality and constitutionality of the policy. The suit, filed by the Incorporated Trustees of the NBA, seeks to declare the Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of Tinted Glass) Decree 1991 unconstitutional and inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution.
An affidavit filed by NBA lawyer, Godspower Eroga, alleged that the police planned to divert funds through a private account instead of the Treasury Single Account. He argued that the law cited by the police provided no measurable standard for tinting and clashed with modern vehicles, which often come with factory-installed tinted windows.
Eroga further noted that successive Inspectors General of Police had at different times suspended the permit regime, declaring it free, indefinite, or unnecessary. He also pointed out that senior officers use SUVs with heavily tinted windows, often without permits.
The NBA said the police could not impose taxation without legislation and insisted the force was not a revenue-generating agency.
Meanwhile, on the first day of enforcement, police officers in Asaba, Delta State, impounded the vehicle of Justice O. A. Ogunbowale of the National Industrial Court, a move the NBA described as “embarrassing and avoidable.”
NBA-SPIDEL disclosed that it had tried to secure a last-minute injunction to halt the enforcement, but the Federal High Court’s vacation judge declined to hear the application on procedural grounds.
The association concluded by urging the judiciary to act decisively in matters of urgent public interest, stressing that the authority and integrity of the courts were best protected when they acted to prevent chaos.
