Anambra NBA to boycott court sittings over lawyer’s death

The Nigerian Bar Association, Anambra State chapter, has threatened to boycott court sittings over the killing of a lawyer, Ifeanyi Iloakasi.

Iloakasi was murdered alongside his client by yet-to-be-identified assailants on May 15, shortly after a court session at Ekwulobia High Court.

He was reportedly trailed and attacked at a boundary between Nanka and Agulu, along the Amawbia-Agulu-Nanka-Ekwulobia-Uga-Akokwa road.

Speaking on the development in an interview with journalists at the state judiciary headquarters in Awka on Friday, the Chairman, Committee of Chairmen/Secretaries of the NBA, Awka, Kelvin Aboyin, described the killings as an assault on the legal profession and the rule of law.

Aboyin said the body would order the boycott of court sittings across the state if nothing is done to stop the killings of lawyers and if the perpetrators are not apprehended.

He called on the state government to provide a safe and enabling environment for the legal profession to thrive, just as he called on the security agencies to step up investigations to unravel Iloakasi’s killers.

“The killing of the lawyer is an assault on the judiciary and an assault on lawyers. The body will order the boycott of court sittings if nothing is done. We are here to condemn the atrocity, to say ‘enough is enough’.

We are calling on the government of Anambra State to protect, and provide an enabling environment so that Anambra will follow other states in making progress in cases of litigation.”