The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olumide Akpata has stated that the Association is yet to be engaged by the various Judicial Panel of Inquiry being set up by States Government across the federation and as such, it cannot confirm the nature of the panel.
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Meanwhile, he stated that the information garnered is that the Panels are made up of several individuals from different states of the society but however, the President assures that the Association will make itself available through its members in order “to represent Nigerians who have suffered in the hands of members of the notorious SARS and help them articulate their positions”, adding that, the Association “has set up helplines and help desk to ensure that we are available for those who have stories to tell”.
He stated this in an interview with Channels TV monitored by TheNigerialawyer on Wednesday.
In addition, he stated that it would be ensured that the Association will be available when the Panels of Inquiry resume or begin sittings in order to assist Nigerians to properly articulate their positions and present memoranda to them.
In addition, it was stated that the uprising in Lagos State is a fall out of the attack on #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Toll Plaza on Tuesday, adding that the action of the military was reprehensible and condemnable.
“It was an all time low for our country yesterday (Tuesday), a really low moment and shame on all of those who thought it was a way to go, to shoot at armless/unarmed protesters”, adding that the way their minds of the orchestrators worked was improper noting that the citizens have a right to protest and has been going on for about two weeks, “the Governor of Lagos State declared a curfew or ordered a curfew and by the way, that curfew was extended from 4PM to 9PM, so strictly speaking, those who were at the Lekki Toll Plaza were not breaching any rule but even let us assume for a second that they were breaching a rule or a law, there is no justification on this planet as to how anybody can come and take out guns and shoot at or even shoot around at individuals whose only offence probably was that they were gathering when they ought not to have gathered. I’m sure there are other ways to deal with these people if indeed those who were in charge of the process were well-intentioned”, adding that “it was a dastardly act”.
Also, he added that the NBA will work very hard with anybody and everybody to ensure that those who committed the dastardly act, those who aided or instructed individuals to go out and kill the protesters who were carrying Nigerian flag are brought to book, not only in Nigeria but also outside the country because as a nation, we exist based on rules that had been breached in a most dastardly manner.
Furthermore, while reacting to what happened at Kings College in Lagos, the President’s alma mater to make the students to be evacuated, he said:
“For the very fact that I am an old boy of the college and I am a member of the Executive Committee of the Association, I was able to hear first hand, what exactly was going on. It would appear that hoodlums that attacked City Hall and also attacked the Court of Appeal and High Court”, adding that in Igbosere, “Kings College is situated right in the middle of the City Hall and Court of Appeal, so it was necessary, the students were not evacuated but were moved away from that part of the school premises that part the City Hall and moved away to the center of the school. This is the information I have”, noting that he has been in touch with the Management Committee of the school and that the students are safe on both campuses of the school.
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