Chidi Odinkalu’s tirade on Paul Usoro: What happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu rudely woke the legal community Thursday morning, with a vitriol diatribe against Mr Paul Usoro, SAN in what has to be considered as an unfair and unwarranted onslaught against his person.

READ: NBA election passions heat up as Odinkalu revives debunked Usoro allegations

While Odinkalu is within his right as a concerned member of the Nigerian Bar Association to take a stance on issues he considers critical, he ought to know that such positions can only stand the test of time when expressed within the ambits of respect not only for the legal profession but for its practitioners.

Make no mistake, issues were raised concerning Mr Usoro’s relationship with Justice Agbadu-Fishim and the personal gift the former gave to the latter. However, Usoro has reiterated that what he gave to Justice Agbadu-Fishim was a personal gift, and as long as the action does not put the latter in a compromising position, then he has not run afoul of the law.

As for Prof. Odinkalu’s needless barbs at Mr Usoro’s perceived aspirations for the NBA presidency, it is sad that he would go so low as to play the ethnic card. As legal practitioners, one would think the contest ought to be about which candidate possesses the passion, drive and intellectual acumen to pilot the NBA’s affairs to greater heights. It is rather disappointing to see the play on tribal passions that Prof. Odinkalu disappointingly attempted.

It bears repeating that as far as the story is concerned, Usoro has never been charged with any misconduct and should be given a fair hearing in a properly constituted court or tribunal if it ever happens. That Justice Agbadu-Fishim is facing charges for related offences does not transpose any form of liability, criminal or otherwise, to Usoro. It is an incontrovertible cornestone of law that one is certain Prof. Odinkalu is intimately acquainted with.

As legal practitioners and custodians of the law, there are appropriate quarters that lawyers can channel their grievances to subject to the Constitution and even the NBA’s statutes. Coincidentally, the incumbent NBA President, Balarabe Mahmoud at the National Executive Committee meeting earlier today noted that lawyers should desist from causing chaos and encouraged everyone to explore appropriate channels to register their grievances or petitions. One would expect a distinguished lawyer of Odinkalu’s stature would tow this path but he chose to skip and jump into the murky waters of throwing-mud-in-the-face politics.

Not everyone can support the same candidate in an open election contest but mudslinging should never be encouraged if civil participation and the proper exercise of one’s civic responsibilities are to guaranteed in democratic spaces. Lawyers are expected to be a beacon of discipline for the society at large and a lot is expected of us, none more so than in a country still evolving democratic best practices as Nigeria.

Akwa Ibom Governor, Emmanuel Udom alluded to this as the guest of honour at the NEC meeting, counselling that as the NBA consistently intervenes in national economic matters by issuing policy statements, the body of the country’s lawyers should continue to uphold the discipline expected of them to build a better society.

If we seek to build a better Nigeria, where then in the history books do we write Prof. Odinkalu’s vitriol? If anything, it belittles his own person and exposes the profession to ridicule. For the betterment of the NBA as we head to crucial elections, and the nation at large, Odinkalu should drop his unfounded fierceness and act in a manner that is expected of the eminent lawyer that he is.

Yakubu Abubakar is an associate with one of the country’s foremost commercial law firms. He writes from Jos.