The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN, has stated that the ” conducts of counsel and the courts in the handling of the proceedings that culminated in the orders issued by the Federal High Court, the Kano State High Court, and again the Federal High Court, in the circus, have brought utter disgrace and shame to the profession—have exposed the entire legal profession in Nigeria to public ridicule and opprobrium.
The damage would take the legal profession a long time to recover from. It is unfortunate and was totally uncalled for.”
In a statement issued this morning, Mr Maikyau said, “Without prejudice to the subsisting actions before both the Federal High Court and the Kano State High Court, it is my considered view that there is an urgent need to scrutinize the professional conduct of both counsel and the judges involved in these matters.
This is to enable the relevant bodies or institutions to determine their culpability or otherwise from an ethical and professional standpoint.”
The NBA President has, therefore, called on “the respective heads of the courts of the judges concerned, to take immediate steps to look into their conduct to find any possible abuse of their judicial offices and file a report with the National Judicial Council for necessary action.
As regards the lawyers involved, the NBA President said that the NBA “will investigate the conduct of the counsel involved in these cases and shall not hesitate to commence disciplinary action against them before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, should there be any finding of alleged professional misconduct against them.
The Chairman of the NBA Ethics and Disciplinary Committee has accordingly been directed to invite these counsel for preliminary investigations.”
