Lately, an increasing number of lawyers in the country have made verbal attacks on judges a pastime, lambasting them over rulings which go against them (lawyers) and their interests. What made the matter more worrisome was that some senior lawyers, who ordinarily should keep their disagreements on rulings of judges to themselves or at best channel such to the appropriate quarters in the sector like the National Judicial Council (NJC), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) among others, joined the fray. The verbal jabs on judges every now and then by these lawyers has made many to question their motives. Not long ago, one of such senior lawyers, Professor Itse Sagay, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), to the dismay of many of his admirers, openly criticized the Supreme Court over its ruling on the governorship election in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, describing the verdicts as perverse. Sagay went further to disparage the Supreme Court justices over the verdict when he said: “Now what we have is a group of people in the Supreme Court, who do not care where their legal interpretation is leading them. Once you have a divorce between law and justice, the whole legal system will break down and that is what has happened.” Attacks that disparage judicial officers like the one by Sagay and other lawyers are unfortunate and capable of eroding people’s confidence on the judiciary. This is why all well-meaning persons must commend the NBA for deciding to sanction in lawyers who disparage judges. The move will protect the judges who by their oath cannot come out openly to defend themselves. Additionally, the NBA must ensure that the sanction is meted out to erring lawyers irrespective of their status. By: Sam Nzeh Daily Times News]]>