Lawyer in five months pre- trial detention prays NBA to secure his freedom

ENUGU- based la wyer, Vincent Nwachukwu Okonkwo, has called on the national leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association ( NBA) to urgently intervene in his unlawful detention at the Nsukka Correctional Centre, Enugu, since September 23, 2020 without trial or bail.

The lawyer, writing through his counsel, E. B Ochuma of Stratagem LP, said all efforts by several colleagues to obtain bail for him ha ve been persistently frustrated by the “powers that be in the state”.

Ochuma wrote: “The said Mr. Okonkwo SCN: 0547744, who was a member of the Abuja branch and now of the Enugu branch of the NBA was wrongly accused, arrested and charged before a magistrate with the offence of promoting local war, conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence and performing government functions without being given the right of fair hearing and or granted bail from September 23, 2020 till date. The said magistrate declined jurisdiction in the matter on September 23, 2020 and remanded him in prison custody from then till date.

“Subsequently, the State filed a fresh charge before Justice Eya of the Nsukka High Court in case No .

N/ 22c/ 2020 State V. Vincent N. Okonkwo & 1 other . Justice Eya with all due respect to him has evaded sitting on the matter till date. The matter is presently adjourned to February 24, 2021, while our colleague continues to languish in unla wful detention.”

According to the counsel to the detainee, the story of his persecution started in Igga, a community in Enugu State, where a number of actors have tried to establish an iron- fisted rule.

These actors, he said, include a man who claims to be the Igwe of the community despite not being recognized by the people or by the constitution of the community as such, who has allegedly rained terror on the people of Igga for several years.

Okonkwo, he said, was arrested on September 10, 2020 following a connivance between those actors and major players within the Enugu State government.

“He was arrested on false and convoluted assertions of obtaining under false pretenses. The fact of the matter is a lot more straightforward. Okonkwo, an intellectual and a lawyer- cum- pharmacist by training, had been very involved in efforts to develop Igga community over the years, and particularly in the period immediately preceding his arrest.