Police warn Lagos lawyers against Tuesday’s protest

Lagos State police command has warned the Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) not to hold their planned protest.

SP Chike Oti, Police Public Relations Officer in a statement advised the Bar Association led by Mr. Adesina Ogunlana to shelve Tuesday’s protest as all avenues to resolving their grievances had not been exploited.

He noted that the Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, was deeply worried about the security implication of such protest, adding that the resources of the Police command was overstretched.

“It is expected that the NBA chairman whose office is a shouting distance away from the CP’s office, should have at least briefed him on the matter and indeed any issue of interest to his association instead of planning a street protest for a matter that could be resolved in the CP’s office without much ado”, the statement added.

“More so, the unit of the Police which the NBA has issues with and indeed all operational Police units in the state are under the command of the Commissioner of Police.

“The Lagos State Police Command, views this planned protest and the call by the NBA Chairman that all manner of people should join the protest as a call to breach of public peace and safety and an unnecessary dissipation of valuable energy.

“Besides these, the Command wishes to draw the attention of the organizers of the protest that intelligence report at its disposal indicates that certain elements are hell bent on truncating the peace in Lagos State and are merely waiting for triggers such as the planned protest by the NBA to execute their intentions.

“The Command would like to inform the NBA Chairman that as a stakeholder in peace affairs, security and public orderliness in the state, he ought to partner the police in ensuring public safety and not resort to acts capable of breaching the peace enjoyed by all in the state.

“The CP wishes to assure the NBA Chairman that his complaint as seen in the newspapers is noted and that investigation into it is in progress and at the end, a joint press conference in which the NBA Chairman would be invited would be held,”‎ he added.