Guard Your Courts Against Invasion By Perverts – NBA
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Olumide Apata, urged judges to protect their courts from ignoble litigants and lawyers whom are bent ridiculing the judiciary.
The President of the NBA, Olumide Akpata disclosed this on Monday in a message to a ceremony to mark the 2021/2022 legal year of the Court of Appeal, held in Abuja.
Mr Akpata, who was represented at the event by Yakubu Maikyau, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, made reference to the unprofessional conducts of some lawyers which led to recent conflicting orders from courts of coordinate jurisdiction across the country.
“Their target is to make a mockery of an institution that must always inspire confidence, trust and fairness. In particular, what may appear to be the ignoble roles and potential judicial rascality of some of the Judges in the internal political crises of a major political party and the primary elections of a State a few weeks ago, were eyesores better imagined than experienced.
“We woke up nearly every day to the news of another order on the subject of the leadership of a political party in a manner that smacked not only of the possibility of forum shopping but also of suspected compromise of such mushrooming injunctions”, he said and added that some senior members of the Bar also allowed themselves to be used as purveyors of abuse of Court processes and perversion of justice.
He said, “The NBA unequivocally abhors any attempt either directly or indirectly of any of its members or indeed, politicians who attempt to ridicule the profession and by extension, undermine the justice system in Nigeria,” he said.
Akpata commended Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme of the Court of Appeal for her tough position on the above, an action which he said, awoke the conscience of many stakeholders’ interventions within the Bar and the Bench.
The NBA boss told the appellate Court Justices to do everything within its powers to forestall future attempts to ridicule the justice system of the country.
He said litigants will not desist from these ignoble conducts and added that it behooves the Justices of the Court of Appeal to guard their respective doors against invasion by perverts.
“The journey to confront the bad eggs of the Bench will not be an easy task. This is because those who profit from the sale of justice will never go down alone. They will be willing, as always, to muster every tentacle and web of connections within and outside government and the corporate world to fight back.
“On our part as the Bar, we will continue to provide our support and solidarity against invasion by any marauder.
“This we have done by tasking the Dr Babatunde Ajibade (SAN)-led committee to identify and recommend the appropriate disciplinary measure to any legal practitioner who, either directly or indirectly, brings disrepute to the legal profession”.
He assured that, as long as the battle to sanctify the judiciary is fought on the altar of justice and fairness, the Bar’s chorus will mimic the motto of Liverpool Football Club; You will never walk alone.”
