Owerri-based lawyer and former Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Owerri Branch, Chinedu Agu, has raised an urgent public security alert after four individuals whom his chambers believed to be police officers allegedly stationed themselves outside his law office for several hours on September 18, 2026, before later leaving the area.
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Agu, who described the incident as a serious cause for concern about his personal safety, however stopped short of accusing the Nigeria Police Force or any government official of ordering the alleged surveillance, saying the identity, purpose and motive of those involved had not been established.
According to the lawyer, he was attending to a client in his office when an associate in his chambers entered his office in a distressed state and reported seeing four individuals positioned outside the entrance gate of the premises.
He said the associate told him the men arrived in a black tinted vehicle, whose inscription she could not read from where she was standing. Some of them were allegedly dressed in police camouflage while others appeared to be in mufti.
Agu said one of the men reportedly signalled to his associate to come downstairs, but she declined to approach them.
He explained that because he had previously alerted members of his chambers to security concerns and instructed them to remain vigilant, the associate returned inside the office, secured the entrance and informed him of what she had witnessed.
According to Agu, the individuals subsequently left their immediate position outside the office.
He said he immediately contacted persons within the civic and human rights community, who escalated the development and drew the attention of relevant authorities to concerns surrounding his safety.
Agu said those contacted emphasised that the Nigeria Police Force and other security institutions should not be deployed in circumstances capable of creating fear, intimidation, unlawful surveillance or threats to citizens.
After the men could no longer be seen from the location where they had allegedly positioned themselves, Agu said he asked one of those who came to assist him to make discreet inquiries around the neighbourhood to establish how long the individuals had been there and what they had been doing.
According to him, people within the vicinity claimed the men had remained around the area for several hours, with their attention appearing to be directed towards his office premises and his vehicle.
He further said inquiries revealed that one of the men had entered a pharmaceutical shop located within the same compound.
According to information allegedly obtained from the shop, the individual asked about a particular medication but did not purchase anything before returning to the vehicle.
Agu said persons in the area also reported seeing the vehicle and its occupants move around the vicinity on about three occasions before eventually changing location.
Later that evening, he said concerned stakeholders advised that he should not remain at the office.
Consequently, some persons assisted in moving him away from the premises to what he described as a safer location as a precautionary measure.
The lawyer linked his concerns to recent developments surrounding his public commentary and previous encounters with security agencies, although he stressed that he was not making a definitive allegation about the purpose of the men reportedly seen outside his office.
“This development comes shortly after I authored a prophetic and reflective poem, The Dry File Rises Again, expressing concerns about possible attempts by state actors to arrest me,” Agu said.
“While I do not make any definitive allegation regarding the motive or purpose of the individuals involved in today’s incident, the circumstances surrounding the event require urgent attention, independent observation, and appropriate preventive measures.”
His latest concerns come amid an existing controversy surrounding reports that an older criminal matter involving him may have been revived.
Earlier in September, the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, warned against what it described as the possible revival of a dormant criminal case involving Agu, saying that if there were genuine allegations against him, they should be pursued transparently and through due process rather than being used to intimidate a government critic.
Agu has previously been involved in disputes arising from his criticism of governance and public institutions in Imo State. In September 2025, the Imo State Police Command invited him over allegations of “criminal defamation” and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace following publications critical of the state government. At the time, the Nigerian Bar Association publicly expressed concern and said legitimate criticism of government officials and institutions should not be treated as a criminal offence.
Agu said the purpose of his latest public alert was not to prejudge what happened outside his chambers but to ensure that professional bodies, civil society organisations, human rights institutions and the wider public were aware of a development which he believed could have implications for his security.
He said the matter also raised broader concerns about the independence and safety of lawyers and civic actors involved in holding public institutions accountable.
The lawyer consequently called on Nigerian and international human rights bodies to take note of the incident and continue monitoring developments concerning his safety.
Among the institutions he specifically appealed to were the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
He also called on Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, RULAAC, Front Line Defenders, International Commission of Jurists, International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the National Human Rights Commission to monitor the situation.
Others named by Agu included Hope Behind Bars Africa, NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law, Avocats Sans Frontières France, Spaces for Change, South East Human Rights Bureau, Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development, Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education, CEHRAWS, Civil Liberties Organisation, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Prison Advocacy and Justice Initiative, Onurube and Nchekwa-Umu-Ogbenye Foundation.
Explaining why he chose to make the incident public despite the uncertainty surrounding the men’s identity and intentions, Agu invoked an old proverb.
“As the old saying goes, the cry of the mother hen when the kite carries away her chick is not for the kite to free her chick, but for the entire neighbourhood to become aware,” he said.
There is, at present, no independently established evidence that the men reportedly seen outside Agu’s chambers had been sent to arrest, monitor or harm him, and Agu himself acknowledged that he could not definitively state their purpose.
No response from the police concerning the September 18 incident was contained in Agu’s statement, and the identity of the occupants of the vehicle remains unconfirmed.
Agu, a solicitor, Notary Public and former Secretary of the NBA Owerri Branch, nevertheless maintained that making the episode public was a preventive measure aimed at ensuring independent scrutiny should further developments occur.
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