Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has tasked the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, to go beyond talking to taking actions to protect and defend the judiciary from the untoward attitudes of some lawyers and politicians.
Speaking at the book presentation in honour of Justice Mary Peter-Odili as part of activities marking her retirement from the Supreme Court of Nigeria and her 70th Birthday celebration, which held at Dr. Obi Wali International Conference Centre in Port Harcourt on Monday, Wike said, the leadership of the NBA should stop issuing statements and work towards protecting the rule of law.
Citing instances of what sister Associations overseas, have achieved, using their unique position as the Temple of Justice, Wike reiterated the need for members of NBA to put words to Action. More so, considering the precarious situation in the country.
His words: “What is even worrisome on the part of the President of the NBA is his failure to admit that the NBA, including the inner and outer Bar, which he leads, have failed in their responsibility to protect the rule of law and defend the judiciary from punitive intimidation and erosion of its independence by the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government.
“It is quite unfortunate that the NBA is only good at issuing bland statements of condemnation without more, while the judiciary continues to suffer ferocious bouts of harassment from a Federal Government that has become notorious for its contemptuous attitude towards the rule of law and the rights of Nigerians to an effective justice system.”
Governor Wike also expressed his disagreement with some speakers at the valedictory court session organised in honour of Justice Odili on Thursday, where most speakers laid the blame on politicians over the problems that the judiciary suffers.
Wike said Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, who spoke on behalf of the Body of Senior Advocates at the valedictory Court Session, identified corruption as the bane of the Nigerian judiciary but rather shifted the blame on politicians, lawyers and the Federal Government.
Governor Wike noted that while the learned Senior Advocate is largely correct with respect to the issues of forum shopping by lawyers and the intimidation of the courts by the federal government, he is, however, wrong in his allusion to political cases as responsible for the debasement of Nigerian courts.
“Now, if I may ask: are lawyers not behind the contemptuous criticisms of judges by clients? How many lawyers have withdrawn from political cases in protest against unwarranted castigation of the court by clients?
“How many lawyers have withdrawn their services to clients on account of frivolous petitions against the court without their consent? Who are those who advise politicians to reach out to judges? Where are the lawyers that have ever advised their clients against reaching out to judges handling their matters?
“For me, let us stop the scapegoating and tell ourselves the truth that as lawyers, most of us are all involved in this despicable conduct, perpetrating the same evil, only at different levels because of our predisposition for success through backdoors without any regard to the damage we are doing to the reputation of the entire judicial system.”
The governor said the Federal Government had in 2016 unleashed premeditated midnight raids on Judges’ homes, including the Justices of the Supreme Court, in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Gombe, Kano, Enugu and Sokoto States.
“In 2020, when the sanctity of Justice Mary Odili’s home was violated by hired members of the APC over the Supreme Court’s judgment that sacked the party’s governorship candidate for Bayelsa State, the NBA just condemned it, without any further follow-up action to forestall a recurrence.
Governors present at the event were: Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia); Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa); Mr. Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom); Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Senator Douye Diri (Bayelsa); Samuel Ortom (Benue); and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu)
