Ekiti Justice Ministry Moves To Protect Law Officers
By
Abasi Femi Oguntayo
The
Ekiti State Ministry of Justice has established a Law Officers Security
Protection Service in the State to ensure officers’ safety.
This was made known by the honorable Commissioner of Justice and
Attorney General of the State, Olawale Fapohunda on Wednesday, 2nd
January on his twitter handle @AGWalefapohunda.
In his
several tweets he said, “I am pleased to announce this morning, the
establishment of a Law Officers Security Protection Service.The Ministry
of Justice will continue to work to ensure that threats to Law Officers
are quickly assessed and appropriate measures are take.
He
stressed further that, “We will not accept that a Law Officer is
intimidated or threatened in any way in discharging his obligation to
faithfully represent the State Government in any proceedings and before
any court in Ekiti State. To that end, I have directed the establishment
of a Law Officers Security Protection Service to be coordinated by a
Law Officers Security unit within the office of the Solicitor- General
& Permanent Secretary (SG/PS), Ministry of Justice.
Fapohunda disclossed that, he had directed the Solicitor General &
Permanent Secretary to immediately undertake a review of similar
initiatives if it existed within Nigeria and globally, so that the
Ministry of Justice, as well as the Nigerian Police and other security
agencies in the state, could benefit from a compilation of best
practices.
“We must take every step to ensure that our Law Officers never face violent attack for carrying out their duties”, he said.
Elaborating
more on the activities of the Security Unit, the Attorney General said
that the Law Officers Security Unit would be mandated to enhance the
safe and secured conduct of judicial proceedings by protecting Law
Officers both within and outside courthouses.
According
to him, this would be a comprehensive effort accomplished by
anticipating and deterring threats to Law Officers and by continuously
developing and employing innovative protective tactics.
To achieve this in concrete terms, the commissioner stated that, the
ministry would engage the Nigeria Police, State Security Service and the
Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps on modalities for the
implementation of this intervention.
