(DDM) — The Organisation of Igbo Communities (OIC) has criticised the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for remaining silent amid what it described as “judicial abuse and desecration of the courts” by the Nigeria Police Force and political elites, particularly following the #FreeNnamdiKanuNow protests.
Diaspora Digital Media (DDM) gathered that Hon. Major Chukwuemeka Ukason, National President of OIC, expressed deep concern over the NBA’s “mute indifference” to systemic violations of citizens’ rights in a statement released on Wednesday.
According to Ukason, “It’s worrisome that the Nigerian Bar Association has remained mute on the judicial abuse by the Nigeria Police Force since the #EndBadGovernance protest in 2024 till now, where the ruling elites, through the police, procure 11th-hour restraining orders to restrict anti-government protesters from exercising their fundamental rights as provided in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, to which Nigeria is a signatory.”
He said such actions have set “a very bad precedent in the history of the Nigerian judiciary,” adding that “the NBA has also remained mute on the desecration of the court by security agencies under a supposed democracy.”
Ukason warned that this ongoing trend poses a grave threat to Nigeria’s democratic order, stating, “The Nigeria Police and political office holders can’t be allowed to turn Nigeria into a banana republic.”
He further condemned what he described as the NBA’s silence over the “unlawful arrest and detention of Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, the legal representative of Nnamdi Kanu,” and the “mode and manner expatriate orders are obtained in court to undermine the rights of Nigerians.”
“The continuous silence of the NBA on the unlawful arrest and detention of Barrister Aloy Ejimakor, alongside the mode and manner expatriate orders are obtained in the court to undermine the rights of Nigerians, is an open endorsement of impunity, and it is dangerous for democracy,” Ukason stated.
OIC called on the NBA to rise to its responsibility as the defender of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, stressing that silence in the face of injustice only emboldens authoritarian tendencies.
The #EndBadGovernance protest, which erupted nationwide in August 2024, was a mass youth-led demonstration against economic hardship, fuel price hikes, and worsening insecurity across Nigeria.
The protests drew large crowds in major cities such as Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, but were met with heavy police and military clampdowns that resulted in dozens of arrests, injuries, and reports of extrajudicial killings.
Several activists, including Michael Linin and others arrested during the protests, remain on trial for alleged public disturbance, incitement, and conspiracy.
Human rights groups have described the continued prosecution of protesters as politically motivated and a violation of freedom of assembly and expression.
Despite repeated calls from civil society organizations and international human rights watchdogs, Nigerian authorities have yet to drop the charges or conduct an independent investigation into the violent dispersal of peaceful protesters.
The OIC statement adds to growing criticism of the government’s handling of civic dissent and the judiciary’s perceived complicity in enabling repression through questionable court orders and prolonged detentions.
