A senior lawyer Jibrin Samuel Okutepa (SAN) has called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Muhammad and President of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata to go beyond mere summons and press statements but invoke outright sanctions against erring judges and lawyers who are involved in conflicting and frivolous injunctions.
He spoke against the backdrop of Monday invitations by the CJN to six state chief judges in relation to the spate of conflicting orders emanating from their courts.
Those summoned are chief judges of Rivers, Kebbi, Cross River, Anambra, Jigawa and Imo states.
A Rivers State high court sitting in Port Harcourt, last week, barred Uche Secondus from parading himself as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while another court in Kebbi State, reinstated him.
Few hours after the Kebbi injunction, a Cross River high court also suspended him from presiding over the party’s activities.
There have also been conflicting judgments involving other parties such as the one in Anambra State involving contenders for gubernatorial tickets.
The CJN issued the summons on Monday in his capacity as the Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC).
By the summons, the affected chief judges are to first appear before CJN, preparatory to their appearance before the NJC to explain what informed the issuance of conflicting orders by courts of coordinate jurisdiction.
In an interview with our reporter, Okutepa SAN, described the act as unethical and “pollution of stream of justice”, while calling on the judicial authority to invoke appropriate sanction.
“Let me start by saying that while the condemnation of these unethical actions of both the members of the Bar and the members of the Bench involved is commendable and I so commend the Hon the Chief Justice of Nigeria and President Olumide Akpata, I think the situations require much more than mere summoning and issuing statements of condemnation.
“The judges and the lawyers involved in this unwholesome and unethical conduct and pollution of the stream of justice are not unknown gunmen. They are known judges and known lawyers with known rules of professional conduct. I call on the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria as the chairman of NJC and the president of NBA to as a matter of urgency bring those involved in this unethical embarrassment and sacrilegious professional misconduct in an infamous manner before the NJC and LPDC and let Justice be meted to them thereat.
“The reason why we have the continuous reoccurrence of these unethical and infamous conduct in the legal profession is that we are too economical with sanctions.
“The legal profession is a profession of light and those who chose to represent darkness in the profession must be shown the way out. I do not believe that the political class should be blamed. Those lawyers and judges who abused their ethical codes should be made to face the music. Mere condemnation will not do. The Hon the Chief Justice and the President of the Bar have these duties to do what needs to be done to repose confidence in the legal profession.
“Our country is failing because the legal profession has failed. The legal profession which is a profession of light has in the most unacceptable ways become completely overshadowed by darkness due to actions and inactions of members of the legal profession.
“Time to put out darkness from the profession to enable its illuminating light rule again is now and only the CJN and President of NBA can start the crusade with firm commitments that it is no business as usual from now.”
The NBA president equally condemned the development which he said, is antithetical to the actualization of a just society and runs contrary to everything the profession teaches and holds dear.
He said, “Before blaming the judges, we must first look inwards and call out our members, most of whom are senior members of the Bar, who continue to yield themselves to be used as willing tools by politicians to wantonly abuse the judicial process.
“In our view, these actions contravene the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2007 (“RPC”) especially the cardinal Rule 1 of the RPC which requires a lawyer to uphold and observe the rule of law, promote and foster the cause of justice, maintain a high standard of professional conduct, and not engage in any conduct which is unbecoming of a legal practitioner.”
He added that the NBA, as the prime defender of the integrity and independence of the judiciary, “will not be a spectator whilst our hard-earned democracy is threatened by the venal acts of a few”.
