NBA Kaduna sends a solidarity message to NBA Ikeja
31st March 2018

As lawyers across the country continue to lend their voice in support of the bold step of Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja branch in defence of the people of Lagos State over the toxic Land use Act introduced by the Lagos State government, the Nigerian Bar Association, Kaduna has issued a statement in solidarity to Ikeja branch over the interference of the police.

In a statement received by Courtroom Mail, the Chairman warned that the act of the police has put the practice of the legal profession and members in danger and at risk of losing their lives.

His statement is as follows:

“The NBA kaduna Branch condemns the invasion and siege laid on the Ikeja Branch of the NBA by the police.

The action of the police violates and is against the tenets of democracy as the Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of association. We state in most categorical terms that the act of the police is an affront to the NBA and an attack on the defender of the rights of the citizens which must be immediately redressed and those found culpable in the perpetration of this ignoble act appropriately sanctioned.

It must however be said that lawyers are not above the law, but in a situation where no law has been broken nor crime committed that will warrant the police to invade a Branch of the Bar is criminal on the part of the police. If there were issues of concern which needed to be addressed, there are other civilised mechanisms to be deployed to resolve same rather than a brutish attack on the Bar. We stand in solidarity with our sister Ikeja Branch against the violation of the tenets of democracy and constitutional order.

The act of the police has put the practice of our profession in danger and members at risk of losing their lives and properties which must be immediately addressed.

Our concerns on this ignoble affront shall be forwarded to the President of the Bar whom we shall request to ensure that the matter is appropriately dealt with and sanctions meted out.

Long live NBA.

Sule Shuaibu,Esq.

Chairman

NBA Kaduna Branch.”

http://www.courtroommail.com/2018/03/31/nba-kaduna-sends-a-solidarity-message-to-nba-ikeja/