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The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Enugu branch, has decried the spate of ‘huge extortion’ by police personnel when matters get to their official units, departments, stations and command within the state.

The association made this known on Tuesday during the opening of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Enugu Branch 2024 Law Week.<!--more-->

They were reacting after a lecture delivered by a human rights lawyer, Mr Daniel Ogbe, on the title: "Commercialisation of Policing in Enugu State: Implications on Human Rights”.

Ogbe said that the commercialisation of policing in Enugu State had lead to infringement on fundamental human rights of residents, who at times pay exorbitantly to get police services.

“The commercialisation of the Nigeria Police Force in Enugu State represents a significant threat to societal stability and poses a detrimental impact on the welfare of the police themselves.

“It is imperative that legal professionals collaborate to initiate Public Interest Suits.

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“These suits should aim to persuade the judiciary, through compelling legal arguments, to adopt a proactive stance in interpreting pertinent laws.

“This approach should ensure that police officers are neither permitted nor incentivised to act as agents of injustice and regression within the Criminal Justice System.

“Such actions have negative implications for the protection of fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens in Enugu State,” he said.

Ogbe noted that notwithstanding the difficulties and inadequacies in police operations, the police should work with some leave of dedication and commitment to serve the public.

Reacting, another legal luminary, Chief Uche Maduemesi, noted that the cost of getting police to make an arrested had gone beyond the normal and police officers do not consider that “ordinary citizens might not access protection and emergency response services due to that”.

“There is a need to have a change and for Nigerians to easily access the services of the Nigeria police to ensure that people get needed help from distresses,” Maduemesi said.

Corroborating, the Chairman of NBA, Enugu Branch, Chief Venatus Odo, said that the bar would take necessary action to ensure that the negative action of some police officers should be checked, and fundamental human rights of residents restored.

Odo noted that the recent extortion activities at their various offices in the state also infringe on activities of lawyers and the general judicial process in the state.

“We are going to seek an official audience with the police authority and its hierarchy within the state on this negative development even as we are going to submit our week communiqué on that to them soon,” he said.

Earlier, Justice Peter Obiora, Justice of the Court of Appeal, delivered a keynote paper on the theme: “Bar Practice: The Lawyer at the Centre of Judicial Corruption – Nagging Need for Practice Reforms”, noted that lawyers must live upright.

Obiora, represented by Justice Harold Eya of Enugu State High Court, noted that there are two types of lawyers, “those who know the law and those who know the judge”.

“Truth and transparency is the hall mark of justice anywhere you take it to,” he said.

He called on lawyers to desist from encouraging bribery and corruption in the judicial system, adding that lawyers should shun double standard but maintain only the rule of law and truth.

Speaking, Justice Elvis Ngene, the Chief Judge of Ebonyi State, lauded the NBA Enugu Branch for organising the week and standing out among other bar associations in the country.

“I have been enriched today by this lecture by Justice Peter Obiora and I am leaving here happy and fulfilled. This shows that there is still much hope for reform in the judicial system in the country,” Ngene said.

In his remarks, Justice Raymond Ozoemena, Chief Judge of Enugu State, lauded NBA Enugu Branch for upholding the tenets of the legal profession and having due mentoring initiatives to bring up young lawyers.

“I want to commend the NBA Enugu Branch for setting the pace and being outstanding in all it set out to achieve within the state and nationally,” Ozoemena said.