Chairman NBA Lagos, Ikwuazom, Meets DPO Over Karimu’s Case, Says Erring Officers Must Be Suspended

The Chairman, NBA Lagos branch Mr. Chukwuka Ikwuazom and some of his Exco have taken proactive steps over the alleged assault and physical violation meted against Karimu Olakunle by men of Nigerian Police.

This was contained in the statement by the NBA Lagos branch Chairman issued on Wednesday, 4th July 2018.

Below reads his statement

Learned Colleagues, I just left the Divisional Police Office at Lion Building. I had gone there with the Welfare Secretary, the Publicity Secretary, the Social Secretary and Mr. Muhammed Doko Idris upon our being informed that our colleague Mr. Karimu Olakunle was there.

We met with the DPO and the IPO and heard firsthand from our colleague. The DPO acknowledged that the conduct of the officers was egregious and pleaded profusely that we should not escalate the matter to the leadership of the Police. We told him in quite clear terms that this matter transcends even the victim in this case as the reputation of our profession would be completely and permanently thrashed if we did nothing about this.

For a start, I propose to personally lead a delegation of the EXCO and any interested members of the Branch to the State Police Headquarters to submit a strongly worded petition to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police on Friday. Among other things, we will be demanding an immediate suspension of the erring officers pending investigation.

We will then have further deliberations to agree with further actions which, in my view, should include a lawsuit. With respect to Mr Olakunle’s former employer, I can confirm that a petition has been delivered to the Branch’s Disciplinary and Ethics Committee against him by Mr Olakunle. No doubt, the investigation of the petition will help establish the facts of what transpired on 29 June between the parties and further give his employer an opportunity to state his own side of the story.

Kind regards,
Chukwuka Ikwuazom
Chairman, NBA Lagos]]>