2 lawyers charged for contempt set free

TWO Kano-based lawyers who had engaged in a fisticuffs and were charged for contempt before a Chief Magistrates’ Court last week were on Tuesday set free by the court.

In his judgment, Chief Magistrate Muhammed Jubril ruled that the accused persons, Okechukwu Nweze and Ken Obi, had been “purged” of their offences.

According to him, the accused persons while in the dock had wept like babies when asked to state why they should not be convicted.

It will be recalled that both lawyers, while appearing before the Chief Magistrate Court 20 sitting at Audu Bako last week, had an argument over whether a counsel watching brief in a criminal matter possessed the  right to be heard in court and resorted to exchange of  blows in the courtroom.

Chief Magistrate Muhammad Jibril had to order for their arrest and detention in a cell where criminals were kept.

The court described the actions exhibited by the duo as “shameful and barbaric”, noting that the court had taken into account that the duo had invested 28 to 31 years in legal practice.

He added that the humiliation they suffered by being held in detention, coupled with remorse exhibited, earned them the mercy of the court.

Members of the Nigeria Bar Association, (NBA) Kano State branch has however expressed mixed feeling about the judgment.

In a statement sign by the chairman, Ibrahim Mukhtar and publicity secretary, Yusuf Abdulsalam respectively, stated that the presiding Magistrate had wide discretion in contempt proceedings, even though the basis for the soft-landing given to the accused persons could be said to be illogical.

“One would have thought that the more years a lawyer puts into the profession, the more responsible he or she should be. Secondly, a bad precedence may be set if an accused is allowed to go because he cried before the court.”

The branch reiterated its earlier position that misconduct was inimical to the integrity of the legal profession, and was not tolerable, adding that the lawyers in question had conducted themselves in a manner, which it described as “unruly, damnable, condemnable, disrespectful and utterly unprofessional.”

The branch vowed that the matter would be referred to its Disciplinary Committee for further action, maintaining that the legal profession was one that is built upon “knowledge, discipline, self-respect, reciprocal respect and respect for rules and regulations guiding every aspect of our demeanours.”