NBA raises alarm over alleged Lawyers misconducts

The president Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud has raised alarm over the professional misconduct of some lawyers in the country, saying legal profession must be held in high esteem.

The Association boss who disclosed this at the 2017 law week which started in Warri Delta state Thursday regretted that the number of petitions against lawyers before him at the national secretariat is quite alarming, and expressed worries that the value and honour attached to character are being eroded.

According to him “We must as a body continue to uphold the ethics of the profession. The senior members of the Bar should expectedly lead the way so that the juniors who are coming behind will have something to emulate.

The NBA boss who was represented by a former chairman of Warri branch, Barrister Ben Oji said recently a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) was stripped of his privileges after being found to have conducted himself in a dishonorable manner before the appellate court.

Guest speaker on the occasion Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo spoke on the rule of law which he described as a legacy for posterity, the ultimate guarantor of Justice, social or individual and of the peace of the realm adding that there can be no democracy without it.

“The concept of the rule of law is a great legacy of the struggle for democracy: against the tyranny and oppression of federal lords; kings, queens and anyone else who would wield unrestrained power” posited Ifowodo.

According to him the doctrine also implies the equality of all before the law, thus no citizen, irrespective of his or her social status, may be exempted from the duty of obedience to the law which governs other citizens or from the jurisdiction of ordinary tribunals.

“In essence, the rule of law encapsulates the doctrine of respects for the innate dignity of all human beings resulting in what is popularly known today as fundamental or inalienable human rights; which in turn have been enshrined as a Bill of rights in every Nigerian constitution since 1979” remarked Dr. Ifowodo.

Former Deputy Governor of the state, professor Amos Agbe Utuama who spoke on state planning law posited that the principal of public planning law is to design the use of land at the regional level to produce more decent livable and socially inclusive communities for the benefit of all.

Prof. Utuama who is also the United Nations (POLAC) Ambassador for peace, noted that the law has established its own administrative organs with their respective functions in ensuring that the town and cities are liveable and commended the association for organizing such a laudable programme .