The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has vowed to provide free legal services to Nigerians harassed by the police over the controversial tinted glass permit, which it described as “illegal.”
The NBA’s Section on Public Interest and Development Law stated that the police had no constitutional basis to impose fees or annual renewals on motorists and warned that enforcing the program was both illegal and revenue-driven.
In a statement on Thursday, the Chairman of the NBA’s Public Interest Litigation Committee, Olukunle Edun (SAN), said, “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.
“The Human Rights Committees of the 130 branches of the NBA in Nigeria are ready to offer pro bono services to anyone who is harassed. It has been estimated that the police may generate at least N3bn within a month from monies that will be collected, thus turning the police into a revenue-generating agency of the Federal Government instead of focusing on the more serious issue of crime.”
Edun emphasized that the case is already in court and accused the police of being “lawless” for beginning enforcement.
In a letter to the Inspector General of Police dated October 2, 2025, the NBA informed the force of the pending suit FHC/ABJ/CS/1821/2025 before the Federal High Court in Abuja, which challenges the policy’s legality and constitutionality. The group stated that the police have a duty to maintain the status quo ante bellum until the court rules.
The NBA’s Incorporated Trustees filed the claim, which seeks rulings that the Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of Tinted Glass) Decree 1991 is unconstitutional and inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution and that motorists cannot be forced to pay fees or renew their permits. It also seeks an order prohibiting the police from engaging in further arrests, harassment, or extortion under the policy.
According to an affidavit filed by NBA lawyer Godspower Eroga, the police attempted to siphon monies through a private account—Parkway Projects A/C No. 4001017918—rather than remitting payments to the Treasury Single Account.
He further said that the law referenced by the police has no measurable standard for tinting and is incompatible with current vehicles, which frequently come with factory-installed tinted windows.
Eroga further noted that consecutive Inspectors General of Police had temporarily halted the permission regime, deeming it free, indefinite, or unneeded.
He further stated that top police officers frequently drive SUVs with substantially tinted windows, often without a permit.
The NBA claimed that the police could not enforce what amounted to taxation without legislation.
“The Nigeria Police Force is not a revenue-generating agency of the Federal Government,” the document claimed.
Meanwhile, the association was outraged that on the first day of enforcement, police officers in Asaba, Delta State, detained the vehicle of Justice O.A. Ogunbowale, a National Industrial Court judge.
NBA-SPIDEL described the move as “an embarrassing and avoidable situation,” emphasizing the policy’s hazards.
The body said that it had made a last-minute attempt to obtain an injunction to suspend the enforcement, but the Federal High Court’s vacation judge declined to hear the application due to procedural limits.
“A simple order to stay the police action could have protected the public and, as it turned out, one of his own colleagues,” the NBA said.
It concluded by encouraging the judiciary to take decisive action in instances of vital public interest: “The judiciary’s authority and integrity are best protected when its members act to prevent chaos, even if it means bending a procedural rule on the ‘last day’ on the bench.”
