Ekiti NBA petitions Fayemi, DSS, police over killing of colleagues

Members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ekiti Branch, yesterday staged a peaceful protest in Ado-Ekiti to register their anger over the kidnapping and subsequent murder of the scribe of the association, Adeola Adebayo, by yet-to-be identified abductors.

They were also protesting the alleged killing of another member, Mr. Adesina Okeya, by unknown gunmen, who abducted him in Abuja and was later found dead few days after he was called to the Bar last week.

Adebayo was kidnapped on November 17, 2018 along Efon-Erio-Aramoko Road and taken to an undisclosed location before his decomposed body was found on Sunday, December 2, 2018 after the ransom had been allegedly paid.

In a petition addressed to Fayemi, which was submitted to the Police Commissioner, Mr. Bello Ahmed and Director of Department of State Services (DSS), Mrs. Precious Ihenacho, at the headquarters in the state capital, the lawyers alleged lackadaisical attitude displayed by security to the kidnapping.

The protesting lawyers, clad in black attire to convey a message of mournful period for their members, were led by chairmen of Ado, Ikere and Ikole NBA branches, Samuel Falade, Oludayo Olorunfemi and Ibrahim Olanrewaju.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Governor, Bisi Egbeyemi, who addressed the lawyers, gave a marching order to security chiefs to find the killers and make Ekiti save for all and sundry.

Egbeyemi, himself a lawyer, said he was personally pained by the gruesome killing of these citizens of Ekiti State.Also, the state Police Commissioner, Ahmed, said the police made efforts to rescue eight out of those kidnapped alongside the deceased, saying the warning given by the deceased family that they should treat softly on the matter made police to soft-pedal on their investigation.

“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 ransom; we were not even carried along when the ransom was paid,” he said.