Lawyers commend release of abducted Wali, former NBA president

The news of the release of the immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr Okey Wali, SAN, by his abductors  was  received with joy, excitement and advice by Nigerian lawyers participating in this year International Bar Association, IBA, in Tokyo, Japan.
One of the predecessors of Wali in office, Chief OCJ Okocha, SAN, described the news as  "a great one. I do hope he is in best spirit. We thank God. We hope and pray that it would not happen again not only to lawyers but to other Nigerians".
Chairman of the   Security Committee of the 2014 NBA Annual General Conference in Owerri, Mr Ogochukwu Okeke, said "Honestly, I thank God for his release. Most especially, I thank NBA President, Augustine Alegeh, SAN, for his exemplary leadership. Many leaders might have said they are not part of the security agencies and travelled down here to  Tokyo, but he has made the sacrifice to show we are all our brothers' keeper." He therefore called on the Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC) responsible for the registration of SIM cards to  be more creative so as to avoid what we called 'Use and Throw Away System'.
Lady Debbie Obodoukwu, said " NBA will now have peace with Okey Wali's  release.  Kidnapping of Wali was a trauma to the Nigerian lawyers. We are happy the tauma was over.  Alegeh,   to me has started well. It was a big sacrifice on his part not to attend this conference .A sacrifice to his office and person. The sacrifice has yielded a big plus for him". Also the  Chairman of Isiokpo branch of NBA, Mr. Promise Iwezor, described the release as a welcome development and appreciated the roles played  by Alegeh and all security agencies.
The lesson of this sad event, according to the former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice   Ekiti State , Dayo Akinlaja(SAN), was for our governments to invest in human and infrastructural developments. He added that, "It is a piece of absolute cheering news. Personally, I thank God for his release and I want to give credit to those who contributed to his release in one way or the other. Having said that, it is time for us to critically reflect not only on the security situation, but in terms of general human resources and infrastructural developments. We have been here(Tokyo) for the past one week and we have been exposed to how things work in super efficient ways.
"In terms of resources, I have no iota of doubt that we have more enough to elevate our nation to this level or at least something close to it. May God help us", he concluded.
 Mr. John Baiyeshea(SAN) in his reaction said, it was"a big relief .All the delegates at this conference have been worried. We thank God for his release. We hope our capacity to burst crime can be increased from what we have seen here in Tokyo".
Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Arthur Obi Okafor, felt pleased for the release of Wali, but added that, "I give glory to God and pray that such a bad event should not befall any other Nigerians. The problems in our country are many. To stamp out kidnapping and other crimes, all Nigerians must come together to fight the evil. On the part of the government , there should a greater commitment on matters of security and provision of employment for Nigerian youths. On the part of the populace we must show support and patriotism to our country".
 Ogun State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu and a Lagos lawyer, Mr. Lanre Osinaike also expressed their gratitude to God for Wali's release. " We are glad he has been released. His ordeal no doubt was a pointer to the level of insecurity in our . We all need to do more to ensure our safety", Olaniyonu noted, while  Osinaike remarked that, " however, we should use the event  of Wali's abduction and his subsequent release as an opportunity on how best to tackle the menace of insurgence and criminal activities which appears to have enveloped our dear nation . The lesson therefore  for our leadership and followership is to  come together  with the view to put an end to all these criminal activities".