NBA condemns alleged assault on physically challenged lawyer by police

• Ikorodu branch donates to ALDIN
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has outrightly condemned the assault on a physically challenged lawyer by policemen in Abuja.

The body charged the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to call his officers to order.

NBA, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kunle Edun said the action of the police is reprehensible.

This followed the report that Mr. Kassim Lawal, who was into humanitarian activities by distributing palliatives in Abuja to his colleagues, was brutally beaten by some policemen.

According to the statement, on Sunday April 19, 2020, Lawal and his niece decided to distribute food items (as palliatives) to some members of the Association of Lawyers with Disabilities in Nigeria (ALDIN), FCT Chapter and the Nigerian Association of the Blind, FCT Chapter resident in Kubwa; for and on behalf of a Nigerian, who donated the items. 

He was upon making his third delivery in the evening at about 7:00 pm around Bauchi Road, off 2-1, beside Infini Mart Supermarket, Kubwa and having mounted the motorcycle hired for that purpose, was suddenly assaulted from the rear by a group of policemen in a police van, without the courtesy of asking him why he was at that place.

“The policemen continued beating him in spite of his pleas. It was not until when Mr. Lawal repeatedly screamed on top of his voice introducing himself and what he was doing, that the beating stopped. The bikeman told him that the persons that assaulted him were policemen.

“As a result of the injuries inflicted on Mr. Lawal, he had to seek urgent medical attention and reported the incident to the phase 4 police station. He also registered his complaint with the Police control number: 0805700000,” Edun noted. 

Edun reiterated the need for order in the police force to curb recklessness of some of its officers, which have led to the death of more than 21 citizens in recent times.

Meanwhile, in response to a recent publication announcing that ALDIN had set up a fund raising committee for its members, the NBA Ikorodu Branch has extended its own palliative to ALDIN members. 

Bayo Akinlade Chairman of NBA Ikorodu Branch noted that the donation was long overdue. He said that ALDIN had been marginalised for too long within NBA, besides the fact that they pay the same Bar dues and are made to compete with full able-bodied members of the legal profession. 

“I am hoping that my fellow brother NBA Branch chairmen will make a donation to ALDIN as we have done,” said Akinlade.