The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has raised urgent concerns over the increasing activities of “one chance” criminal attacks in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), calling the Minister overseeing the Territory, Nyesom Wike, to arrest the situation.
NBA’s position followed the shocking murders of healthcare worker Ms Chinemerem Pascalina Chuwumeziem and lawyer Princess Chigbo Mediatrix, in FCT within the week.
Mediatrix, a former Treasurer of the Abuja Branch of NBA, and Chuwumeziem, a healthcare worker with the FMC, Jabi, Abuja, were reportedly attacked by criminals posing as commercial transport operators. Their bodies were subsequently discovered in different parts of Abuja.
Confirming Mediatrix’s death, the FCT Police Command, through its spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, on Wednesday, said discreet investigations were ongoing to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
However, in a statement on Thursday, NBA President Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, warned that these killings reflect a deepening security crisis in the nation’s capital.
“These were not faceless victims. They were professionals, contributors to society, and ordinary citizens whose only intention was to return safely from their daily engagements. Their deaths underscore a frightening reality that insecurity is once again tightening its grip on the nation’s capital,” the association said.
The NBA described the murders as a stark reflection of the growing security breakdown in Abuja, noting that criminal gangs have made daily commuting increasingly perilous.
Osigwe described the death of Princess Mediatrix as a deeply personal loss for the legal community, noting that she served the NBA Abuja Branch with dedication and integrity.
“The Nigerian Bar Association condemns in the strongest terms these senseless and horrifying killings. The pattern is no longer deniable.
“Criminal gangs, masquerading as commercial transport operators, now operate with alarming confidence on our roads,” the statement added.
The association urged the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, the Nigeria Police Force, and other security agencies to treat the situation as a security emergency.
It called for immediate, coordinated measures including intelligence gathering, heightened surveillance, active policing of transport routes, and targeted operations against the “one chance” networks.
“The NBA, therefore, calls on the Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, the Nigeria Police Force, and all other relevant security agencies to treat this situation as a security emergency.
“Immediate, visible, and coordinated action is required to dismantle these criminal networks. Justice must not only be promised. It must be delivered,” the statement added.
