The association of lawyers on Tuesday, 19 April, 2023 confirmed that a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Okey Wali, has been abducted by gunmen
The NBA statement said the 64-year-old Senior Advocate of Nigeria was kidnapped along East-West Road in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State in the early hours of Monday,17 April, 2023.
The incumbent President of the association, Yakubu Maikyau, urged both the Inspector-General of Police and the Police Commissioner in Rivers State “to leave no stone unturned as they work towards the safe release of our dear learned friend”.
Maikyau recalled that Wali, who served as the 26th NBA President between 2012 and 2014, “has served this nation in varying capacities, contributing immensely to the growth of legal practice and in the promotion and entrenchment of the rule of law.”
He described his predecessor, a Port Harcourt-based lawyer, as “a known philanthropist who has helped in the development of his community in no small measure.
“I, therefore, hereby, plead with the abductors not to harm Mr Wali, SAN and make a passionate appeal for his release to his family.
“The NBA stands with and assures his family of our full support in this trying period, even as we join in praying for his safe return home.”
This is Wali’s second abduction experience, after some unknown gunmen seized and held him for a few days in October 2014.
