The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Owerri branch, has condemned in very strong terms what it described as the “assault, humiliation, torture and unlawful detention of Barr Chigozie Chinaka by Assistant Commissioner of Police ACP David Ogoenyi, who is the Area Commander, Owerri Municipality, Imo State.
The Association made it’s stand known in a release dated September, 30, 2023.
The release captioned, “RESOLUTION OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION, OWERRI BRANCH ON THE ASSAULT, HUMILIATION, TORTURE AND UNLAWFUL DETENTION OF CHIGOZIE CHINAKA, ESQ., BY ACP DAVID OGENYI”, reads, “At the Monthly General Meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Owerri Branch held at the NBA Owerri Banch Bar Center on Saturday the 30th day of September, 2023, the members of the Association deliberated on the complaints of assault, humiliation, torture and unlawful detention meted out to a member of the branch – Chigozie Chinaka, Esq., by ACP David Ogenyi (the Police Area Commander, Owerri Municipality, Imo State), and resolved as follows:
The NBA Owerri Branch condemns in strongest terms the despicable and barbaric acts of assault, humiliation, torture and unlawful detention meted out on Chigozie Chinaka, Esq., by the ACP David Ogenyi, the Area Commander, Owerri Municipality, Imo State and men under his command and control on Monday and Tuesday the 25th and 26th September, 2023, in the course of providing legal services to his client.
The NBA Owerri Branch demands the immediate suspension of ACP David Ogenyi as Area Commander, Owerri Municipal, to guarantee a thorough and impartial investigation of the grave allegations leveled against him and other officers within the command.
On the strength of the above, the Nigerian Bar Association, Owerri Branch, constituted a three (3) man Committee with a concise terms of reference which inter alia include: (a) To interface with the National Body in collaboration with NBA Security Agencies Relations Committee (NBA-SARC) and present petitions against the ACP David Ogenyi and concerned officers to the Commissioner of Police Imo State, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police Zone 9 Umuahia, the Inspector-General of Police, the Police Service Commission and the Attorney-General of the Federation. (b) To immediately institute fundamental rights actions against the ACP David Ogenyi and concerned officers and demand immediate redress and compensatory justice for the victim.
The NBA Owerri Branch assures our colleague – Chigozie Chinaka, Esq., members of the legal profession and the general public that the Bar remains resolute in the promotion and protection of the rule of law in the society. Torture, inhuman treatment and abuse of power do not have any place in a civil society, and the Bar will ensure that justice is not only served, but seen to have been served. The perpetrators of these acts of unlawful detention, humiliation, assault and torture of our colleague must be made to face the full weight of the law”.
