Deji Adeyanju and Partners, the law firm that was supposed to defend Stephen Abuwatseya, the Bolt driver who was beaten up by Rep. Alex Ikwechegh, has dropped out.
Ikwechegh, who is a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), made news when he hit Abuwatseya and called him names.
A video that went viral shows Ikwechegh getting angry with the driver, whom he called rude for asking him to come up to the car to get his package.
On October 27, the event happened in Abuja’s Maitama area and caused a lot of anger on social media.
At a magistrate court in Kuje, Abuja, he was also charged with three counts of crimes that included assault and making a danger to life. He pleaded not guilty to all of them. He was given N500,000 bail, and the case was put off until November 8, 2024.
But in a film that has gone viral, the Bolt driver told the lawmaker he was sorry for making him angry.
Abuwatseya also asked Nigerians not to let this turn into an ethnic war and stressed how important it was to forgive and work together.
To protect its professional reputation, the law company said in a statement signed by Zainab Otega on Friday that it would no longer be representing Abuwatseya in court.
The statement says, “We want to officially announce that we will no longer be representing Mr. Stephen Abuwatseye in the case involving the alleged assault.”
“On October 28, 2024, Mr. Stephen Abuwatseye came into our law firm clearly upset and asked for help with an alleged assault.” After Mr. Stephen Abuwatseye filed a report and we checked out his story, we took steps to protect his rights, without charging the person he said attacked him.
“However, because of recent events and after giving it a lot of thought, we have decided to drop our legal representation in order to protect our professional integrity and uphold the highest standards of ethics in the legal field.”
“We wish Mr. Stephen Abuwatseye the best and want everyone to know that we will always fight for the rights of unjustly treated and poor people in society.”
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