A former Chairman of the Ikorodu Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Bayo Akinlade Esq, has raised an alarm over what he describes as the unethical conduct of a Lagos State government lawyer in using the police to detain a private citizen over an unpaid loan.
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In a statement titled “NBA/LPDC: What Are We Doing About Lawyers Colluding With the Police to Break the Law?”, Akinlade recounted the case of Engineer Muyiwa Saanumi who has spent over two weeks in police detention on the orders of Mrs. Olubusola Akinbiyi, a Deputy General Manager at the Lagos State Property Development Company (LSDPC).
According to Akinlade, when lawyers handle cases of illegal arrests and detention, they often discover that fellow lawyers are responsible for encouraging the police to break the law. He questioned what the NBA was doing about such cases of professional misconduct.
Drawing attention to Saanumi’s case, Akinlade shared an account by the detainee’s lawyer, Ayo E. Esq. It stated that Saanumi was arrested on January 16th, 2025 based on a complaint by Mrs. Akinbiyi, to whom he owed 100 million naira obtained as a business loan.
The IPO in charge, Inspector Samson, confirmed the arrest was based on a petition from Mrs. Akinbiyi, a lawyer with the state government. All efforts by Saanumi’s lawyer to secure his release on bail have allegedly been rebuffed, with the complainant and her lawyer Mrs. Titi Cadmus insisting the family first make a substantial payment to demonstrate seriousness about repaying the debt.
Akinlade noted that detaining Saanumi for over 14 days without bail or arraignment, over a civil transaction, was a clear abuse of power and breach of legal ethics. He called on the NBA to investigate the professional conduct of the lawyers involved.
“Should this lawyer be brought before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) or not?” Akinlade queried in his statement. “I thank you most sincerely for your concern and for your willingness to stand with me to fight against this brute abuse of power and utter show of naked power by a colleague, in cahoots with the Police, to oppress a hapless citizen.”
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