The Lagos branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is mobilising lawyers across the state for a protest march on Thursday, 11th January 2024.
The demonstration comes on the heels of the recent assault on Lagos-based lawyer Olumide Sonubi Esq., while seeking bail for his client in a police station.
The lawyer was reportedly hospitalized after being detained by the police on December 30, 2023, over an alleged assault of a police officer during negotiations. He spent two nights in the police cell, according to a report by the Punch.
In a strongly worded statement to members on Wednesday, NBA Lagos branch Secretary Emuobonuvie Alfred Majemite expressed deep concern about the “seemingly incessant reports” of police officers abusing their power, recalling the incidence of its slain member, Mrs Bolanle Raheem, who was shot dead by a police officer in 2022.
“The Nigerian Bar Association, in furtherance of its core objectives including promoting the Rule of Law, condemns in toto, these wanton acts of illegality by some presumably unhinged policemen.”, the statement reads in part.
It further stated that “the protest will be in the form of a march from the Ikeja Branch Bar Centre to the Office of the Commissioner of Police of Lagos State”.
