Following what they said was illegal detention of their colleague, some lawyers in the Jos Chapter of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) have concluded plans to petition the national headquarters of the association, as well as the police and other human rights bodies.
DAILY INDEPENDENT gathered that the detained lawyer, Hero Tawal Habila, in the company of another lawyer, Jerry Chaka, went to Police Eagle Eye Unit, Abattoir, Jos, on Saturday to see their clients where they were allegedly dragged, leading to the subsequent detention of Habila.
Speaking to our correspondent, Barrister Kyenret Comfort Mimang, one of the lawyers from the NBA Jos Branch who are instituting the petition said the issue started when both lawyers “went to perform their constitutional duty of providing legal representation to their clients but were turned away by officers who refused to grant them access.”
She said further; “While making a phone call to report the matter to the O/C Legal, an officer in plain clothes, acting aggressively, shouted that not even the Inspector-General of Police could compel them to grant access.
“The situation escalated when several officers emerged, threatening to arrest and detain the lawyers, calling them “useless” and boasting that detaining lawyers was not new to them. In the heat of the intimidation, Chaka, Esq. was advised by the clients’ relatives to leave for his safety, which he did.
“However, shortly after, he received a call that Hero Tawal, Esq. was dragged into the station and unlawfully detained by the same officers.”
Also speaking to our corrspondent, Barrister Jerry Chaka, who was fortunate not to be arrested alongside Barrister Hero, narrated the ugly events which led to the illegal detention of his colleague.
“What happened was, we went to a station, some suspects’ relatives engaged us to go to the station, that they arrested some of their relatives. They are currently under the custody of police unit, Abattoir, Jos,” he said.
“When we went there with the relatives, we entered into the gate. They stopped us at the gate. They now asked us to identify ourselves.
“So we now identified ourselves as lawyers, the two of us, myself and Barrister Habilla. We said we are lawyers and these are relatives to some suspects that are under their custody. So they now asked us to go outside, that they are doing something in the station.
“We went out and sat down. While we were outside waiting for close to an hour, one of the police officers came out and now signaled the relatives to those suspects that they should come and see him.
“So they left us, we allowed them to just go. They left us and entered inside. The officers were now quarreling with them that why are they involving lawyers in this matter?
“He now told them that this is something they can do, that they should bring N100,000. They said no, they cannot do those things without involving their lawyers and that was why in the first place they brought their lawyers.
“They now kept us outside. We were just hanging around there. They were not attending to us and the relatives to those are our suspects.
Nigeria: Lawyers Set To Petition NBA Over Illegal Detention Of Colleague By Police
