NBA says Judiciary has lost its nobility

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Badagry Branch Lagos, has decried the state of the Judiciary and the nation, saying that a vital arm of government which ought to be the last hope of the common man has been battered and lost its nobility.

They have therefore called for face-mending among members of the profession, pointing out that the society is looking up to the profession and its practitioners to rescue the nation from its current quagmire.

At a grand finale marking the 2020 Law Week in Lagos on Wednesday, the NBA Badagry Branch Chairman, Mr. Chigboo Okafor, noted that the situation which the country has found itself currently is not a healthy one.

“Remember, it has always been said that Law is a noble profession. Considering developments in the profession recently, how noble are we now? So, we want to restore the dignity of the bar. And the position of the profession is such that people are looking up to lawyers to do more. But unfortunately, to be very realistic, the judiciary is contributing to making a mockery of itself,” the Chairman lamented.

Citing the recent Federal High Court order suspending the chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, Okafor said:  “A federal high court had given a judgement. And another court in the same jurisdiction is giving a counter judgment over its own coordinate jurisdiction; that is a mess. And tomorrow, we blame other people for blaming the judiciary. The judiciary is putting itself in a messy position. That is why we are calling our members to rise in defense of the nation.”

According to him, the judiciary needs face mending, and what the Badagry Branch of the NBA had set out to do was to embark on repairing the battered image of the profession. In Badagry Branch, we are trying to go into face mending. And there is need for members of the profession, all of us, to do cleansing. And that cleansing is to give back to society, make positive impact on society so that society will have regard for us”.

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Delivering an address titled, “Nigeria: What Manner of a Federation,” the guest speaker, Mr. Babatunde Ajibade (SAN), drew attention on a long list of contradictions in the constitution and composition of the federation which he said did not come into being by a willing choice of the people but was foisted on the country by colonial masters in pursuit of their economic interest.

He stated however, that the Nigerian people can renegotiate their union in a manner that will suit the interest of all the component segments. “Despite the fact that we didn’t come together by choice, we can still come together to negotiate the terms of our union. That is what I think that we as lawyers should be pushing for.”

But in view of the resistance to restructuring by certain segments of the country, Ajibade submitted that even if the negotiation is resisted there is going to be convergence at some points in the

“Because the authorities have resisted what ought to be done in negotiated manner, they are now seeing it being forced through. My view is that at some point, there is going to be convergence. Take note that initially there was a resistence to Amotekun; the Attorney-General said Amotekun was illegal. But he has now accepted that Amotekun is not illegal.

“So, you can only resist up to a certain point. Sooner or later, through natural possession or by the will of the people, restructuring is going to take place, mark my word. Convergence will take is course in all areas of the federation,” said the renowned lawyer adding that there is hope for the country but it is only a matter of time.

Also presenting a paper titled “Amotekun: Legality or Illegality in  a Federal State” renowned lawyer and human activist, Femi Falana, said that the South West Security outfit was not illegal by any stretch of the imagination, stressing that it was a child of necessity occasioned by the failure of the federal government to provide security of life and property of the citizens.

The human rights activist who was represented by Mr. Taiwo Oliwanle of Falana Chambers, said that there is no justification for state governments to not set up security services to secure lives and property of citizens living in the state.

As part of activities to cleanse up the image of the profession, NBA Badagry chairman said the Branch has dedicated major part of its weeklong celebration to corporate social responsibility. “We have been going around, having free legal clinics, partnering with the local government to educate the people on their rights. And where their rights are being trampled upon, we take legal action on our own, free of charge, to defend their rights.

“We have been going to the prisons to help those who have no justifiable reasons to be there in the first place to get them out of the prisons. We have up to 13 such cases we have been going for but they are not yet out. Some of them need little finance. We couldn’t have done it within three or four days since we started.

“We have approached the prisons to give us the names of prisoners who are not supposed to be there in the first place. Some of them are not supposed to be there. But even their family members and their people cannot locate them.

“The charges? You know the police. When you don’t do their bidding they bring you to court and slam any charges against you. And courts given the way they have been structured, grant you bail and for you to perfect your bail, somebody has to be there to be a surety.

“Some of these prisoners are the people they pick on the road, particularly, our brothers from the North and some Southerners too. Their people don’t even know they are there. What we are trying to do now is to link up with their family members so that if they know them, they can bring a surety and NBA on our own will be there to follow up the cases probono, without payment. We defend them.

“So, that is the stage where we are. Some of them that have been there for a very long time, we are writing that they should be released. They need to be released. You can’t be in a jail for more than six months for an offence that has three months jail term and nobody is talking about your release. But it is like nothing is happening,” Okafor disclosed.