NBA threatens disciplinary action against judicial officers, members involved in professional misconduct

As the country prepares for the 2023 general elections, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) said it will call out and pursue disciplinary action against erring judicial officers.

The President of the NBA, Mr. Yakubu Maikyau (SAN) in his state of the nation press briefing held in Abuja on Tuesday also hinted that members of the Bar who misconduct themselves while participating in the resolution of electoral disputes will face disciplinary action at the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) and the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), where Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) are involved.

According to the NBA boss, the need to guarantee the security of the lives and properties of Nigerians as they troop out to vote is very important and that the ultimate goal of the election depends largely on the interface between the Bench, the Bar and the Political gladiators.

He said, “As members of the legal profession, serving on the Bench or at the Bar, we owe Nigerians sincere and honest participation in the electoral process.

The NBA, he said will help ward off any attempt that would undermine the integrity of the electoral process and neutrality of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and frowned at the endorsement of a candidate in the forthcoming general election by the branch of the NBA is Akwa Ibom state.

He said the association condemned the action of the few members of the association who embarked on such despicable and disgraceful conduct using the NBA platform.

“That declaration was not made for or with the authority of the NBA. It is disgusting and I have already instructed that all the branches of the NBA in Akwa Ibom state should be excluded from participating in the monitoring of the forthcoming election.

“The NBA is not partisan, we are not a political party, we are representatives of the people, we remain neutral and must be seen to maintain our neutrality at all times. We belong to everyone and to nobody”, he added.

“We must do all that is legitimately within our abilities, motivated by the desire to serve the course of justice, to ensure that the relevant laws and rules, properly intercepted and applied, remain the guiding principles for our investment in the process”, he added.

He noted that the legal profession, to a great extent, has not hold government accountable on behalf of Nigerians, without necessarily going confrontational.

“While I agree that there are times when it is necessary and inevitable to go into confrontations to drive home certain points or achieve certain desired goals and objectives for the common good of the people, the place and purposeful engagement and, to a limited extent, our direct involvement in the activities of government without losing sight of the ultimate objective of serving the people, cannot be over emphasized and May yield more and better results”, he said.

Maikyau said, Nigeria as a nation of law is preserved and nurtured by the constitution and the laws of the National and State Houses of Assembly as the case may be, adding that the legal profession is positioned to provide the leadership in this regard.

“It is the legal profession that must interpret the laws for proper implementation. Even where the legislature makes laws, the spirit and intendment of the laws can only be preyed into, understood and applied through the instrumentality of the legal profession: the Bench and the Bar”.

He urged Nigerians to have confidence in the judiciary, hold it into account and report cases of misconduct as the NBA is committed to ensuring that the bad eggs in the legal profession are singled out, brought to book and dealt with decisively.

While the NBA commends the policy and supports government drive to stem corruption and other criminal activities by the implementation of demonetization policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Maikyau said the association shall continue to insist that it is done strictly within the ambits of the law.