GUNMEN KIDNAP FORMER NBA PRESIDENT OKEY WALI

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A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Okey Wali, has been kidnappped, according to a statement by the association of lawyers on Tuesday.

According to a statement from the NBA, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, 64, was abducted in the early hours of Monday along East-West Road in Rivers State’s Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.

The incumbent president of the association and 31st in line, 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”.

Wali, the 26th NBA president from 2012 to 2014, “has served this nation in various capacities, immensely contributing to the growth of legal practice and in the promotion and entrenchment of the rule of law,” according to Maikyau.

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.”