YEJIDE GBENGA–OGUNDARE in this piece explores the arguments and contradictory views of legal practitioners on the petition written by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) against Ifunanya Grant, popularly known as “baddest lawyer” on social media, over the allegations of misconduct and alleged violation of regulations of the Legal profession.
On August 19, 2023, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) announced that it has filed some petitions before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) against some lawyers; the suspended Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, and a young lawyer, Ifunanya Grant an Aba, Abia State-based lawyer, popularly known as “baddest lawyer” on social media, over the allegations of misconduct.
While Yunusa-Ari’s case was not unexpected due to allegations of obvious infractions and his role in the last supplementary gubernatorial election in Adamawa State, it did not raise any dust despite his pedigree. However, this is not the same situation in the Baddest Lawyer’s case, as her issue has led to mixed reactions, arguments and contradictory opinions in the legal community on who is justified and whether NBA has a case.
NBA’s complaints against Ifunanya bordered on her social media postings which involves pictures and videos of herself unclad and smoking marijuana.
The NBA, in its announcement through the association’s spokesperson, Akorede Lawal, said there had been complaints against Ifunanya, accusing her of posting pictures and videos of herself unclad and smoking marijuana on social media while identifying as a lawyer. This has led to the decision of the National Executive Committee of the NBA after its monthly meeting presided over by the president, Yakubu Maikyau, to note that the association would stop at nothing to weed out bad eggs in the legal profession.
“The National Officers also deliberated at their earlier monthly meeting over the unbecoming conduct of some members of the legal profession. Following the resolutions of the National Officers, the NBA has filed petitions at the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee against Mr Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the suspended Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission and Ifunanya Excel Grant, a young lawyer of Aba branch, wildly known as “the baddest lawyer” on social media.
“While it is important to underscore the fact that none of the lawyers petitioned or being investigated is deemed guilty of professional misconduct until the LPDC hands down its decisions after a fair trial, the NBA President has emphasised the need for lawyers to continue to be of best conduct wherever they find themselves. He reiterated that the present NBA leadership will not relent in ridding the profession of the very few bad eggs that may be found,” NBA stated.
I’m not a practicing lawyer
The Baddest Lawyer however reacted to the news about the petition filed against her before the LPDC by the NBA on allegations of alleged misconduct.
In a TikTok video, she argued that she is at the moment, not a practising attorney, adding that there are tonnes of fictitious social media pages with her name and majority of the publicly available materials could have been altered to fit the narrative about her.
In her defence, she said her social media activities are meant to advance her career as a model, singer, and actress and do not have any reflection on her legal training and qualification.
“If I keep quiet, it is going to be an admission of guilt. It is good for me to come out and actually clear my name. First and foremost, forget the fact that I am popular on social media. I would like to state that there are so many fake accounts of me. There are over 20 on Instagram. Likewise on Twitter, Twitter is even worse because I have never been on the app. I have never ever been on Twitter for one day. But there are tonnes of accounts.
“All these accounts you can see on Twitter are all fake pages with my name or my face. And I think it is because ever since Twitter started a policy of payment for verification, they’ve lost the moral. They no longer ask people to provide identification before they verify. They just verify anyone willing to pay them.
“Secondly, I am not a practising lawyer. I am a lawyer by book. I am not practicing. At least for now, I don’t have any interest to practise, maybe some days in the future. But right now, I am not practising.
“I am a model. I am an actress. I am an upcoming musician, a rapper to be precise. Everything I do, everything I post is just for entertainment purposes. It has nothing to do with my legal career. I am not practising law. I don’t have the intention to practice law for now. So right now, my focus is on entertainment.
“Before I even became a lawyer, I was a model. I have always been a model. I have always been into music; I have always been an actress. Lawyer is just one of the numerous things I am. I am thinking about hustling, living my own thing.
“I also want us to point out the fact that social media is not a real place. A lot of things can be doctored, manipulated, exaggerated to seem larger than it really is,” Ifunanya had stated.
She is not our member –Aba NBA
The Aba branch of the NBA in a statement signed by NBA aba branch Chairman, Innocent O. Egwu, Esq. and its Secretary, Mazi K.C. Okoro, has also denied claims that Ifunanya Excel Grant is one of its members.
The denial is a follow up to reports that ascribed Ifunanya’s NBA membership to the Aba branch following the call for her to be prosecuted for inappropriate social media conduct involving substance abuse and unclad images and videos.
The association said, “For the records, we wish to state categorically that Miss Ifunanya Excel Grant is not a member of the NBA, Aba branch, and she is unknown to NBA, Aba branch. While we support every effort of our great association, the NBA, to rid the legal profession of the few bad eggs, we must request that painstaking efforts be taken by officers concerned to ensure that innocent and law-abiding practitioners are not unwittingly held out in bad light to the public.”
It added that the NBA seeks to ensure that law-abiding lawyers are not ‘held out in bad light’, while at the same time, getting rid of the ‘few bad ones. While we support every effort of our great association, the NBA, to rid the legal profession of the few bad eggs, we must request that painstaking efforts be taken by officers concerned to ensure that innocent and law-abiding practitioners are not unwittingly held out in bad light to the public.”
NBA’s main mission
A legal practitioner argued that in submitting a petition to the LPDC, the NBA is interested in possibly further preventing Ifunanya from identifying as a member of the noble profession in Nigeria based on the allegations, contrary to arguments that the association is seeking to stop her from living her life or engaging in other kinds of businesses as she pleases. It is argued that if NBA’s petition succeeds, Ifunanya risks either suspension if she is remorseful and undertakes to change or disbarment if she is adamant.
“The NBA is not expected to fold its hands and not make any move to at least clothe any member of the profession who is seen going naked in the market square. Part of the mandate of the NBA is the welfare and well-being of its members. Meanwhile, it is worthy of note that if posting pictures and videos of herself unclad appear to be earning Ifunanya expected social media engagement and revenue, she may never bother. The NBA may focus on promoting the rule of law, and preserving the dignity of the legal profession only. Ifunanya can care about her private life and personal dignity,” the branch chairman said.
Arguments and counter arguments
There have been series of arguments on whether NBA is justified or Ifunaya is wrong and while there are contradictory views, there seems to be a consensus that the legal profession is a noble one that is meant only for those who are found to be fit and proper, worthy and credible in learning and in character
A legal practitioner, Sabastine Anyia LL.M, in a write-up on the matter stated that, “the legal profession is a noble profession. It is meant for those who are found to be fit and proper, worthy and credible in learning and in character. There are people who have been refused admission into the Nigerian Law School because of petitions written against them concerning their characters either by their school, their community or where they worked before gaining admission into Law School.
It shows that it is not only learning or intelligence that qualifies one to be a lawyer, your character also play an essential role in making you a lawyer. Therefore, your character cannot be compromised at any stage. Whenever the Nigerian Bar Association discovers that your character no longer meets the standard set out by the profession, the association is entitled to retrieve that which links us with you.”
Speaking on the ethics guiding the legal profession, he said Rule 1 of the RPC provides that a lawyer shall uphold and observe the rule of law, promote and foster the cause of justice, maintain a high standard of professional conduct, and shall not engage in any conduct which is unbecoming of a legal practitioner, adding that “it is therefore embarrassing, appalling, disgusting, surprising and demeaning for lawyers to be arguing in the internet and other tabloids that Ifunanya’s acting on the Internet and the open display of smoking Indian hemp is her private life.
“What is private about that when she brought the entire legal profession into disrepute? If it were her private life, why did she write the “baddest lawyer” and not the “baddest girl”? Are you not aware that she posted her Call to Bar Certificate? What was her intention? Perhaps to ridicule the profession and make all lawyers look irresponsible. Those who are supporting this illegality and public desecration of our respected profession must have a rethink because her conduct is unbecoming of a legal practitioner and as such, it is incompatible with our prestigious profession.
“Some lawyers, even our respected senior lawyers are calling for help, they said she deserves help. This is strange and laughable. Did she tell you that she needs help? She is even boasting that she will win. It is elementary in law that our courts are not Father Christmas, in this instant case; our profession is not Father Christmas. Even when a lawyer has to do a case pro-bono due to the pecuniary nature of the client, he or she must show that he/she needs help. Ifunanya has never said she needs help. There is nothing pitiable about her. She has only one mission and that is, to ridicule the legal profession.
“I have also read from some lawyers that she is not the only lawyer that smokes weed or Indian hemp. The issue here is simple; we only know of Ifunanya, the “baddest Nigerian Lawyer” and justice must be done as a deterrent to others. If you know of any lawyer, be it senior Advocate that smokes Indian hemp openly and post it in the internet and other tabloids, kindly let us know. What goes around comes around. We cannot destroy our profession by ourselves. Every dog eats excreta but only the ones that leave proof on its mouth receive condemnation. No man or woman abhors sex except you are sick but it is only when you put it out for the public to see that you will receive condemnation. Nobody cares about how many men she sleeps with in a day, if she does it in her own privacy without dragging our cherished profession into it,” he reiterated.
In his own opinion made public on the matter, Stephen Azubuike, said “I am yet to peruse the contents of the petition filed by the NBA. But according to the NBA’s press release, “the complaints against Ifunanya centred on her social media notoriety of posting pictures and videos of herself unclad and smoking marijuana.” It is least expected for a member of the legal profession to be involved in online posting of personal erotic pictures and videos. This is a conduct reserved for persons of easy virtue who do not trade their legal knowledge for value but have other ideas.
“Under Nigerian law, dealing in (which includes smoking) marijuana (cannabis, indian hemp), also known locally as Igbo, is a criminal offence. As a responsible and reputable association, the NBA believes it has a duty not to keep mute when a person who is a member of the association is alleged to be proudly advertising herself online as a smoker of Igbo,” he said.
Is the NBA justified?
Speaking on whether the NBA is justified, Azubuike also confirmed that the RPC and the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA) contain copious provisions which seem to justify the current move by the NBA, adding that the RPC charges lawyers not to engage in any conduct which is unbecoming of a legal practitioner.
“The LPA condemns any misconduct that is incompatible with the status of a legal practitioner. The objective of these principles is to make you understand that your professional conduct as a lawyer, and conduct in your personal capacity could be of interest to the gatekeepers of the legal profession. The alleged posting of unclad photos and videos by Ifunanya as well as the alleged smoking of prohibited substances are conduct unbecoming of a legal practitioner and undoubtedly incompatible with her status as a lawyer.
“Therefore, it is immaterial that Ifunanya might have engaged in such conduct, as alleged, in other capacities other than in her capacity as a lawyer. It is also inconsequential that she probably may not be in active legal practice presently. The NBA has the right to proceed against you if you are unwilling to maintain a worthy standard of behaviour, and to disallow you from identifying as a member of the legal profession,” he said.
Misconduct unconnected to law practice
On arguments that she engaged in the act in her capacity as an entertainer and not a lawyer, Azubuike said, “You need to understand that misconduct unconnected to law practice may attract sanctions to you as a lawyer. In a Canadian case, Law Society of Ontario v. Widz, 2022 ONLSTH 140, a lawyer was sanctioned for his physical assault on his intimate partner. This was done in the interest of “general deterrence, and the need to maintain confidence in the Law Society’s self-regulation in the public interest. In some cases, an aspirant to the bar may be denied, even after passing requisite exams, due to previous bad conduct. There is the story of Stephen Glass who after graduating from law school and passing the bar exam in California and New York, was unable to be called to the bar in either state because of his past conduct of fabricating stories in his capacity as a reporter. Read more here. You will also see how a Facebook comment landed a lawyer into trouble in the US.
Calls for disciplinary action, fair hearing
In his conclusion on the matter, Sabastine U Anyia called for fair hearing while adding that “all those lawyers who are supporting her should be given the opportunity to present beautiful defence for her at the trial and if at the end of the trial she is found wanting, she should be derobed. This is the only way we can sanitize our noble profession. There should be no politics in this issue.
“What is wrong is wrong however beautifully painted. The soul of our profession must be protected because some of us have no other profession than this, I am therefore in full support that based on her current activities; she should be subjected to the disciplinary body of this profession,” he added.
On his part, Stephen Azubuike concluded that “there’s no room for a baddest lawyer in the legal profession in Nigeria. Having appeared to distance herself from the practice of law, Ifunanya may need to further maintain a considerable distance from actively or passively identifying with the legal profession in Nigeria. As lawyers, we must accord the legal profession the respect it deserves. We can only achieve this by respecting ourselves in the first place. We need to avoid conduct that can possibly diminish public confidence in the legal profession.”
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