Ekiti NBA protests killing of two lawyers by suspected abductors

Lawyers in Ekiti State yesterday protested the killing of the Secretary of the Ikole branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Adeola Adebayo, by suspected abductors.

They also protested against the killing of Mr. Adesina Okeya, who was abducted last week by gunmen in Kogi State while returning from the Call to Bar in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The placard-carrying lawyers, who all wore all-black, stormed the Governor’s Office and submitted a protest letter to Deputy Governor Bisi Egbeyemi for onward delivery to Governor Kayode Fayemi.

They also took their protest to the police command, demanding the arrest of the perpetrators.

The protesters were led by the NBA chairmen for Ado, Ikere and Ikole branches, Mr. Olakanmi Falade, Mrs. Oludayo Olorunfemi and Mr. Ibrahim Olanrewaju.

Adebayo was abducted on November 17 on Efon-Erio-Aramoko road and taken to an unknown location before his decomposed body was found on December 2 after a ransom was allegedly paid.

Some of the placards read: “Security of Lives and Property is primary, provide security for Nigerians”; “NBA Says no to Kidnapping, Insecurity, Killing”; “Lawyers’ Lives Matter, Save Our Souls”, among others.

The petition, presented by Olanrewaju to Fayemi, Police Commissioner Bello Ahmed and the State Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), said: “No Nigerian should be subjected to untold economic hardship and still left without security while struggling to make ends meet.

“As we grieve the loss of our departed member, we use this medium to remind you of your responsibility to citizens and request that all hands must be on deck to forestall a recurrence in the state.

“We demand immediate deployment of troops to comb the area, arrest and bring to justice those who perpetrated this killing.

“If this dastardly killing could happen to a lawyer, what do you think will happen to the ordinary man? We are all endangered species.”

Egbeyemi said the government was working with security agencies to unmask the killers and make Ekiti safe for all.

The deputy governor, a lawyer, said he was pained by the gruesome killings of the two Ekiti citizens.

Attributing the recent spate of abduction in the state to poor motivation of security agencies in the last four years, Egbeyemi the measures put in place during Fayemi’s first tenure were discarded by the immediate past administration.

He said: “We have taken the matter of Adebayo and others very seriously. When the report got to the governor, he arranged for people to go to the place and ordered the Commissioner of Police and the Army to take part in the rescue mission.

“Apart from that, we were reliably informed that Ikere, Ogbese, Erio, Aramoko, Igbara Odo and Iju had allegedly become dens for suspected abductors.

“Notwithstanding, we are going to order policemen and other security agencies to be drafted to those areas and the Obas in those places, as you have rightly said, would be involved.

“The boy (Adesina Okeya), who was called to the Bar last week, was kidnapped and died thereafter. We have sent a message to Abuja that the case must be handled seriously, and we are not leaving any stone unturned.”

Ahmed said the police made efforts to rescue eight of the kidnapped alongside the deceased, saying the warning given by the deceased’s family that they should tread softly on the matter made the police to soft-pedal on their investigation.

He said: “We expressed our sympathy and condolences to the deceased’s family.

“The family asked us to be cautious on this issue when the kidnappers established contact with them and we had to respect their views. You said you paid a ransom; we were not even carried along when the ransom was paid.

“The security of life is the work of everybody. We are working round the clock. We trekked over 40 kilometres into the bush while searching for him.

“We have made major arrests on the recent bank robbery in Ijero-Ekiti where three policemen were killed. We are after others. We will do our best to arrest all the culprits.”