Lest we are misconstrued! We must say from the start that we are not addressing the community of responsible Nigerian lawyers here. It is all about those ‘learned men’ that have chosen to be errant, indeed depraved,who found their way into the legal profession not for the reason of ennobling it for the benefit of society, but for the purpose of exploiting it in the crudest of ways in the name of performing their constitutional duties, in disregard of anything ethics or morals, to ruin the society and enrich self. Indeed, ‘if unpleasant things are said about someone or something, there is probably a good reason for it’, so says one fellow in search of explanations to the wise saying: “there’s no smoke without fire”. It is of common knowledge that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is locked in a running battle with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), particularly since Mr. Ibrahim Magu was appointed the Acting Chairman of the antigraft outfit under the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. The root of the quarrel EFCC has with the NBA, especially some senior members of the association, is the claim that they are deliberately complicit in sabotaging the nation’s war against corruption. The latest disagreement EFCC had with the NBA stemmed from the recent call by the newly elected NBA President, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, that the Commission be stripped of its prosecutorial powers.
To demonstrate how bitter the EFCC felt about Mahmoud’s suggestion, the Commission said in response that the NBA had become complicit in cases of corruption and money laundering, a development it said had led to the arraignment of two members of the ‘Inner Bar’ for acts of corruption. “A Bar populated or directed by people perceived to be rogues and vultures cannot play the role of priests in the temple of justice”, EFCC said. Indeed, the EFCC, in addition, accused Mahmoud of bungling two high profile corruption cases involving two past governors.
While the foregoing raged, the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School (NLS), Professor Olarenwaju Onadeko, revealed that some practising lawyers were recently caught writing examinations for students of the Nigerian Law School. “It is very unfortunate that some lawyers have been caught writing examinations for students of the Nigerian Law School. Such act is condemnable because it is not helping in the training of future lawyers for this country... The only thing we can do is to report those lawyers to the NBA and we have done that. So we expect the leadership of NBA to take drastic actions against them to serve as deterrent to others”, Onadeko stated.
Down the line had been revelations on how some lawyers are working round the clock to ensure that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) signed into law in May 2015 by former President Goodluck Jonathan becomes useless. The major purpose the ACJA was enacted was to usher in an efficient system of criminal justice administration- the promotion of efficient management of criminal justice institutions and speedy dispensation of justice - among others.
But a recent report by a national daily (not National Mirror) indicated that some lawyers are exploiting the loopholes in the ACJA to ensure that nothing like efficiency and effectiveness are injected into the nation’s criminal justice system.
A Professor of Law, Bolaji Owasanoye, for instance, was quoted as saying that lawyers were the ‘singular biggest’ threat to the success of the ACJA because of their rigid attitude to the letter and spirit of the law. The worse side of the rigidity, we understand, is their loyalty to the ‘letters’ of the ACJA instead of the ‘spirit’ that necessitated its enactment.
With the kind of narratives attaching to the legal profession presently, members of the bar, the decent and ethical once inclusive, will increasingly find it difficult convincing citizens that they are not into the profession to strictly cater for their bellies and reckless pastime. It will, in truth, be extremely difficult for the NBA to dispute EFCC’s candid opinion that “a Bar populated or directed by people perceived to be rogues and vultures cannot play the role of priests in the temple of justice”.
The NBA should move fast and stem the excesses of its errant members instead of playing the ostrich game.
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| NBA president,Mahmoud(l) EFCC Chairman, Magu |
While the foregoing raged, the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School (NLS), Professor Olarenwaju Onadeko, revealed that some practising lawyers were recently caught writing examinations for students of the Nigerian Law School. “It is very unfortunate that some lawyers have been caught writing examinations for students of the Nigerian Law School. Such act is condemnable because it is not helping in the training of future lawyers for this country... The only thing we can do is to report those lawyers to the NBA and we have done that. So we expect the leadership of NBA to take drastic actions against them to serve as deterrent to others”, Onadeko stated.
Down the line had been revelations on how some lawyers are working round the clock to ensure that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) signed into law in May 2015 by former President Goodluck Jonathan becomes useless. The major purpose the ACJA was enacted was to usher in an efficient system of criminal justice administration- the promotion of efficient management of criminal justice institutions and speedy dispensation of justice - among others.
But a recent report by a national daily (not National Mirror) indicated that some lawyers are exploiting the loopholes in the ACJA to ensure that nothing like efficiency and effectiveness are injected into the nation’s criminal justice system.
A Professor of Law, Bolaji Owasanoye, for instance, was quoted as saying that lawyers were the ‘singular biggest’ threat to the success of the ACJA because of their rigid attitude to the letter and spirit of the law. The worse side of the rigidity, we understand, is their loyalty to the ‘letters’ of the ACJA instead of the ‘spirit’ that necessitated its enactment.
With the kind of narratives attaching to the legal profession presently, members of the bar, the decent and ethical once inclusive, will increasingly find it difficult convincing citizens that they are not into the profession to strictly cater for their bellies and reckless pastime. It will, in truth, be extremely difficult for the NBA to dispute EFCC’s candid opinion that “a Bar populated or directed by people perceived to be rogues and vultures cannot play the role of priests in the temple of justice”.
The NBA should move fast and stem the excesses of its errant members instead of playing the ostrich game.
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