Lawyer Recounts how he was Assaulted at SSS Office. (Premiumtimesng)

The lawyer narrates how he was assaulted at SSS office, and how the ordeal has left him in a lingering fear for his life.

A lawyer, Douglas Ogbankwa, has recounted how he was assaulted by officers of the Lagos State command of the State Security Service (SSS), where he had accompanied a client to answer a case.

Mr Ogbankwa, who is also the Director of Strategic Communications of African Bar Association, narrated his ordeal which he said left him in a lingering fear for his life, in a thread of tweets he shared via his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Tuesday.

“I am presently scared for my life as the man holding the gun said if I come to the DSS Office again, they will gun me down,” the lawyer wrote of his traumatic experience at the SSS office.

DSS, which stands for the Department of State Service, is the spy agency’s self-chosen name contrary to the State Security Service (SSS), given it by its enabling law.

In the episode that began with his dogged efforts to defend the interest of his client, according to Mr Ogbankwa, the officers of the agency rained slaps on him and dragged him on the floor before sending him into an underground cell.

How it started

According to him, he was abused after his insistence to be present while his client put down his statement. According to him, the Administration of Criminal Justice (ACJ) Act 2015 entitles him as a lawyer to be with a client while making a statement to a law enforcement agency.

“I visited the DSS Office with my client and we were at the Waiting Room when two different ladies at intervals wanted to take my client to go and make a statement without my presence. I protested that I needed to be present by the provisions of the ACJA,” he wrote.

Mr Ogbankwa said his insistence to join his client in writing his statement drew the anger of the Principal Staff Officer (PSO), Operations and Intelligence of the agency.

He said the official, decked in a blue native attire but whose name he did not give, shouted at him and ordered him to back out.

“It was at this point, I informed him that I was not a Kindergarten pupil that should be pushed around, because he was very uncouth, rude and aggressive. He then said I should leave the Office and I told him, the DSS Office is an Agency of the Federal Government and I was a freeborn, who should be able to access the same at reasonable hours of the day.

“It was then I asked my client that we should leave. We were leaving when the PSO Operations and Intelligence asked that they should lock the gate that I was under arrest.

“I informed him that being assertive is not a crime, but a right as we are in a free society,” he stated.

Assault and detention

The lawyer said the official’s reaction afterwards was to land a slap on his face, followed by a flood of over seven slaps from other officers who swooped on him on their boss’ order.

He wrote: “He slapped me immediately and asked his boys to bundle me into an Underground cell. I was dragged on the floor, cleared from my leg; I received over 7 slaps and blows.

“I stood up and informed them that they were no longer doing SSS Business, but their personal business as I do not know the State Command Officers to act this way. This PSO Operations and Intelligence is new and lawyers have really suffered in his hand.”

He said his assailant scorned his threat to ensure the Nigerian President heard of their misconduct.

He said they responded by saying “they are the President’s boys”. “One of them even said they will kill me here and nothing will happen.”

The lawyer, who said he was released from detention that same day, described how he had been in the grip of fear for his life following an officer’s threat that he would be shot if he dared to step on the SSS office again.

Reactions from Tweeps

Mr Ogbankwa’s post drew a flood of angry comments, rebuking SSS and its officers, who have always been at the centre of allegations of impunity and disregard for court decisions. Some also expressed frustrations about how SSS and its agents easily got away with abusive actions.

The commentators included Rinu Oduala, a human rights activist, who played prominent roles in the October 2020 anti-police brutality #EndSARS protest.

“A lawless country with laws on paper,” she wrote.

A human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, also wrote: “Animals masquerading as law enforcement agents”, a comment that also attracted a reply of Dr. Effiong John, who blamed Nigerian courts for giving judgements that allegedly validated acts of impunity.

“Our courts have even emboldened them with the nonsense judgements coming from them recently. It’s going to get worse. Impunity with legal backing will soon be the next normal. It’s a pity,” the reply read.

Despite the low public confidence in the Nigerian judiciary, a commentator, Malachy Odo II, encouraging Mr Ogbankwa to seek legal redress in court, wrote, “Hopefully, you’ll make them pay for this by way of damages.”

But another user, #30, expressing concerns about how SSS appeared to have always escaped sanctions for their abusive conducts, noted the judiciary’s lack of capacity to bring the agency to book.

“They act like this because they know no one will hold them accountable. Even if you sue them, judiciary is not all independent like that,” the comment read in part, adding that media houses that were also meant to escalate the issues “and force their hand will rather keep mute and follow trends.”

Ijeoma Abdulazeez also tweeted, “Imagine. They are the president’s boys. They are all boys for the rich. They should all hide their faces in shame. ”

Tope Johnson encouraged Mr Ogbankwa to report the case to his branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the body of Nigerian lawyers, while also expressing his frustrations about the association not giving such issues the attention they deserved.

“That’s unfortunate, the more reason I don’t attend NBA conference, because the issues they are supposed to address will not be addressed; please copy your NBA branch and I will put it on other lawyers chat groups,” the comment read.

NBA speaks, SSS keeps mum

Reacting to the development, the National Publicity Secretary of NBA, Akorede Lawal, told PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday of the association’s efforts to launch a probe into it.

He said the association had reached out to Mr Ogbankwa, asking him to send a formal complaint to the association.

“Our member has been harassed and his personal rights have been breached upon. He has been affected in many ways while doing his job for his client. We will take necessary steps, even the weight of our association, to ensure that we get justice for him,” Mr Lawal told our reporter on the telephone.

In what suggested Mr Ogbankwa’s case was not an isolated one, Mr Lawal said the NBA president, Yakubu Maikyau, had set up a committee to address the highhandedness lawyers often faced while dealing with security agencies on behalf of their clients.

He said the NBA-Security Agencies Relations Committee (NBA-SARC) , ably led by Chukwuka Ikwuazom, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), “is already investigating” issues like Mr Ogbankwa’s.

He said it was “imperative for us to identify the officers involved”, stressing that all parties to the case would get fair hearing.

But efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to get SSS’ comments did not yield a result, as the agency’s spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, neither answered phone calls nor responded to text messages of our reporter.