Thousands of lawyers in Imo State on Friday boycotted court sittings in the state in protest at the assassination of a senior magistrate, Remmy Ogu.
Ogu was the Chief Magistrate of Uburu Magistrate’s Court in Oru West Local Government Area of the state.
The lawyers, who addressed a press conference in Owerri before embarking on a protest march in the metropolis, called on the Inspector General of Police to apprehend the killers.
The chairman of the Orlu branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, Chuzzy Attama, who spoke for the aggrieved lawyers, said the courts in the state lacked adequate security.
Attama said that the killing of the magistrate was a ploy to intimidate the judiciary in the state.
He added that the lawyers would march to the state government house, police headquarters, office of the chief judge, the state House of Assembly and the office of the Director of State Security Services to express their concerns about the killing of the magistrate.
Attama said, “We demand that the police and other relevant security agencies should carry out a thorough and unfettered investigation into the murder of Senior Magistrate Remmy Ogu, arrest the killers and bring them to justice.”
He further demanded that armed police orderlies should be provided for all the judges and magistrates in the state. In the same vein, Attama demanded the provision of armed court duty police for all the courts in the state, particularly high courts, magistrate’s courts and customary courts.
He equally spoke of the need to provide official cars for all magistrates and chairmen of magistrate courts in Imo State.
PUNCH.
