NBA Branch Accuses Police of Arresting Its Own Treasurer Mid-Court Session in Nasarawa

An Arrest Inside the Courtroom

The Nyanya-Karu Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association in Abuja has condemned the alleged arrest of its Treasurer, Monday Isah Adah, Esq., by police officers attached to the Nasarawa State Police Headquarters. According to the branch, the incident occurred at Magistrate Court No. 3 in Lafia while Adah was actively representing a client, a detail the branch says makes the alleged conduct particularly troubling.

What the Branch Says Happened

In a statement signed by Branch Chairman Alexander Ebi Edim and Secretary Mazi Echika Ejido, the NBA Nyanya-Karu Branch said the confrontation reportedly grew out of Adah's attempt to protect his client while carrying out his professional duties. The branch was direct in its framing: it maintains that advocacy on behalf of a client is not, on its own, a criminal act, and that a disagreement between a lawyer and a police officer over how police powers are being exercised cannot by itself justify arresting counsel.

A Demand for Release and Investigation

The branch has called for Adah's immediate and unconditional release if he remains in custody, alongside a full investigation into the officers involved. It framed the episode as more than an isolated dispute, describing it instead as a threat to the independence, dignity and professional freedom that lawyers need to do their jobs without fear of retaliation from the very security agencies they may find themselves opposing in court.

Part of a Wider Pattern

This is not the first time the Nyanya-Karu Branch has clashed publicly with security agencies over the treatment of its members. The branch has previously moved to sue the NSCDC over the alleged harassment and detention of another member during a property dispute, and separately filed a fundamental human rights suit against the police demanding damages after a member was held over a corporate trusteeship matter. Taken together, the branch's leadership appears increasingly willing to escalate these incidents publicly and legally rather than resolve them quietly.

What to Watch

Neither the Nigeria Police Force nor the State Police Headquarters in Lafia has issued a public response to the allegations. How the force responds and whether Adah's case ends in disciplinary action, an apology, or litigation, as previous Nyanya-Karu cases have, will likely shape how seriously other branches expect their concerns about member safety to be taken going forward.

The Bigger Question

Incidents like this keep surfacing a question the wider Bar hasn't settled: what recourse does a lawyer have when the officers they may need to challenge in court are the ones detaining them for doing so? For now, branch statements and lawsuits remain the main tool lawyers have to push back.