Dozens of armed police officers have laid siege at the secretariat of the Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association over the body’s decision to stage a protest on Thursday.
Adeshina Ogunlana, the chairman of Ikeja NBA, confirmed the development to newsmen yesterday evening.
“The police have invaded my secretariat, there are about 50 of them who are armed, and they are saying that they don’t want the protest tomorrow,” Mr. Ogunlana said over the phone on Wednesday night.
“And we told them that we are not interested in disrupting the presidential visit, our protest is not going to take place in Ikeja, and that there is no need for any alarm. We are not blocking any route.”
President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to arrive Lagos on Thursday for a two-day official visit.
After a march two weeks ago to protest the state government’s newly introduced land use charge, the lawyers had planned another round of protest to coincide with the president’s visit.
The police siege on Wednesday evening came shortly after police authorities issued a statement ordering the lawyers to shelve their planned protest on Thursday.
The statement issued by Chike Oti, the spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, said the police would not tolerate any protest from the NBA or any group during Mr. Buhari’s visit.
“The CP believes strongly that the planned protest by the NBA is the handiwork of mischief makers who are using the NBA as a launching pad to possibly compromise the security emplaced for the presidential visit,” Mr. Oti, a superintendent of Police, said in the statement.
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