The 64-year old former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Okey Wali, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) has again been abducted, on Monday along East-West Road in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State
Penpushing reports that the abduction of the legal luminary was made known on Tuesday in a statement by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Yakubu Maikyau who urged both the Inspector-General of Police and the Police Commissioner in Rivers State to leave no stone unturned as they work towards the safe release of our dear learned friend.
The lawyers’ leader recalled that Wali, who served as the 26th NBA president between 2012 and 2014, has served this nation in varying capacities, contributing immensely to the growth of legal practice and in the promotion and entrenchment of the rule of law.
Penpushing further reports that Maikyau described his predecessor, a Port Harcourt-based lawyer, as a known philanthropist who has helped in the development of his community in no small measure, and therefore pleaded with the abductors not to harm him but release him
“I, therefore, hereby, plead with the abductors not to harm Mr Wali, SAN and make a passionate appeal for his release to his family. The NBA stands with and assures his family of our full support in this trying period, even as we join in praying for his safe return home’, he wrote
Penpushing also reports that it is recalled that in 2014 Wali was kidnapped after he was seized by unknown gunmen and was held for few days before he could regain his freedom, and in the traumatic episode that occurred just some months after he completed his tenure as the President of the association.
‘It has come to my attention that one of our respected elders and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Okey Wali, SAN was reportedly abducted in the early hours of yesterday, 17 April 2023, after his convoy was attacked along East–West Road, in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State’, the association leader emphasised.
‘Mr Okey Wali, SAN was the 26th President of the NBA and has served this nation in varying capacities, contributing immensely to the growth of legal practice and in the promotion and entrenchment of the rule of law. He is a known philanthropist who has helped in the development of his community in no small measure’, he added.
Penpushing reports that the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) said it stands with and assures his family of full support in this trying period, even as they join in praying for his safe return home, lamenting that this ugly incident was another sad reminder.
‘This ugly incident is yet another sad reminder of the weakness in our security system and the failure of successive governments to live up to the Constitutional duty of providing for the welfare and security of all Nigerians’.
‘We urge the Inspector General of Police and the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Command, to leave no stone unturned as they work towards the safe release of our dear learned friend’ Maikyau stated
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