Lagos NBA Protest Police Brutality Against Lawyers
A human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana, has called on the Nigeria Police to conduct proper investigations into the case of brutality against lawyers in Lagos State.
Falana made the call on Thursday during a peaceful protest organised by members of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Lagos, against the unlawful arrest and detention of a lawyer, Olumide Sonupe, by the police in the state.
The lawyers who are members of about five branches of the NBA marched from its Ikeja secretariat, while displaying banners, to the Command headquarters where the state Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade, addressed them.
This is coming hours after the CP had ordered the removal of the Divisional Police Officer of Moshalashi Police Station, Austin Arase, who ordered Sonupe’s detention on January 4.
The 36-year-old Sonupe was hospitalised after he was said to have been detained by the police while seeking the bail of his client at the Moshalashi Police Station in the Alimosho area of the state on December 30, 2023.
It was learnt that the lawyer’s health deteriorated upon his release from the police station on January 1, 2024, after spending two nights with his client in the cell.
It was gathered that the incident happened when Sonupe went to the station on December 30 to seek the bail of his client, a carpenter, who had been detained for an alleged breach of contract.
The lawyer said that a woman police officer had accused him of speaking with his client by his cell without the presence of an officer.
He said while trying to clear the misunderstanding and appeal to the officers on the N30,000 bail sum demanded for his client, the DPO, Arase, came in and ordered that he should be locked up, accusing him of disrespecting the officers.
The lawyer stated that he was also accused of assaulting an officer and eventually spent two nights in the cell.
He was said to have ended up at the hospital after his release due to medical emergencies.
Following media report, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, in a release obtained on Tuesday, disclosed that the CP had ordered the removal of the DPO who ordered the lawyer’s detention.
The release further stated that the CP had immediately ordered a probe into the matter upon the publication of the story, while noting that the police would continue to work together with the members of the NBA.
Falana who spoke during the protest on Thursday, said the NBA was ready to defend the rights of lawyers, while stating that the association had filed a report and that an investigation was ongoing.