Kidnap of Judge: Lawyers Protest in Asaba

Lawyers in Asaba on Friday took to the streets in protest against Monday’s kidnap of a judge of the state’s High Court, disrupting courts’ proceedings in the process.

The lawyers, under the auspices of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and numbering more than 40, barricaded Magistrates Courts premises on Ibusa Road, at 8.30 a.m.

They also barred court workers and magistrates from entering the court halls.

The judge, Justice Marcel Okoh, was allegedly abducted by a gang of armed men at Abraka, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta on his way to Warri also in Delta.

A Chief Magistrate, Mr Sylvester Ehikwe, and some workers, who were already in their offices were forced to abandon their duties by the protesting lawyers.

The lawyers said that there would be no court sittings in the state till the judge was released.

Twenty-four detainees brought to the court by prisons officials for their various cases were also turned back by the protesting lawyers.

Mr Lawrence Egodike, one of the protesters, said  that the state branch of NBA had resolved that none of its members would appear in any court untill Okoh was released.

Egodike also said that the courts would not be allowed to sit, and called on the state government and security agencies to ensure that the victim was alive and promptly released.

He also implored the authorities to fish the kidnappers of the judge, regretting that the rate of abduction in the state was rising at an alarming rate.

Neither the Commissioner of Police in the state nor the Command’s spokesman could be reached for update on the judge’s fate.