Legal practitioner, Olukoya Ogungbeje, known for representing the alleged billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, popularly known as Evans, who was arrested outside the Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday, has spoken out on his arrest.

According to PREMIUM Times, the lawyer who was arrested as he was about to enter the court premises and whisked away, said he was “abducted” to prevent him from appearing in a N100 million suit he filed against the police, adding that he was held for over four hours at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, in Yaba.

It was gathered that Ogungbeje’s client, Ibrahim Kabiru, had also been arrested by the police at the court premises days ago while waiting to appear in a fundamental rights enforcement suit he filed against the police.

The police said Ogungbeje was arrested on the grounds that he was not qualified to represent Kabiru because the latter had transferred his brief to another lawyer, Wole Smith, but Ogungbeje said he had secured a N200 million judgment sum against the police for the extra judicial killing of Kabiru’s brother, Waheed.

It was learnt that Waheed was arrested and detained by the police during a raid in the Ikorodu area in November 2015. He has not been seen ever since.

Messrs Ogungbeje and Kabiru are also appearing as plaintiffs in a suit against the police for the forceful abduction and detention of Mr Kabiru.

Joined as respondents are the Inspector General of Police; the Nigeria Police Force; the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State; Yetunde Longe, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Panti; Effiong Asuquo, O/C legal, Panti; and Smith, a senior advocate of Nigeria.

In the affidavit in support of the suit, Kabiru claimed he was arrested and tortured solely because the police and its agents abhorred his decision to maintain Ogungbeje as his lawyer.

Kabiru accused Smith of using agents of the Nigeria Police Force to harass him because he never appointed him as his lawyer and that the documents tendered in court to that effect were falsified, adding that Smith was working with the police to ensure that the judgment against the Force is not enforced.

He said: “We were about to get an order absolute to declare the respondents judgement debtors when the sixth respondent Wole Smith showed up with an application for change of counsel claiming that I had given the brief to him.

Kabiru said he was released on September 7 only after Ogungbeje wrote a petition to the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone II.

The judgment in the matter was delivered by Mohammed Idris who awarded the sum of N200 million to the family of Waheed Kabiru to be paid by the Nigerian Police Force.

DMCA Report This Content For Take-Down If It Violates Your Rights (Click Here)