NBA President, Group Condemn Freeze Of Accounts Of EndSARS Activists

By Ella Makondo

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association( NBA), Olumide Akpata, has frowned at the clampdown by government on the leaders of the #EndSARS protesters, saying  the actions of the government were contrary to its earlier disposition.

In a facebook post , Akpata  said “With all that’s going on in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests, lawyers are definitely not smiling! @djswitch_ has gone into hiding after receiving threatening phone calls, Moe Odele’s passport was seized and she has been prevented from travelling outside the country and Rinu Oduala and many others have had their accounts frozen by the CBN…this was not the deal.”

Earlier on, an  advocacy group, Access to Justice, also condemned the freezing of the bank accounts of 20 of the protest leaders by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In a statement on Sunday by its Convener, Joseph Otteh, described the freezing of the accounts of the #EndSARS protest leaders without a court order as deliberate action to suppress the legitimate exercise of constitutional right of freedom of speech and expression.

The organisation also expressed its disappointment in Justice A.R. Mohammed for agreeing to issue an order freezing the accounts without hearing from the protesters.

“The CBN is transforming into a partisan political organ of the government and putting its vast regulatory powers into illicit partisan political uses for the purpose of suppressing the legitimate exercise of constitutional rights of freedom of speech and expression. This is appalling for a Central Bank for many reasons

 “Asking those caught and crippled by the order to apply to court for review after the order was made is like medicine after death. They ought to have been heard in the first place, before the order was made,” the statement said.

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