A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jibrin Samuel Okutepa, SAN, has said that the Nigerian Bar Association appears to be in the worst state in democratic processes among professional bodies, pointing to the just concluded election of the Association, and has called on Nigerian lawyers to return to what he described as the roots of purity of the legal profession in order to save democracy from collapsing.
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Okutepa stated this in a post on his X handle, in which he set out a wide criticism of advocacy practices, judicial independence and the absence of immediate remedies for victims of wrongs in Nigeria.
The senior advocate began with the role he considers the profession to occupy in national development.
“I have always believed that we the members of the legal profession hold the key to democratic growth and development,” he wrote. “All over the world historical jurisprudence showed the role the members of the legal profession played for growth and development of the most developed nations.”
He then set that against the state of the Association. “Unfortunately, NBA as the foremost professional association of lawyers in Nigeria appears to be in the worse state in democratic processes. The just concluded ‘election’ of the association speaks volumes to the point I am making here.”
Okutepa said the remedy lies with practitioners themselves.
“I believe that Nigerian lawyers must go back to the roots of purity of the legal profession and save democracy from collapsing. I speak particularly of those practising lawyers,” he wrote.
He set out what that duty entails in court. “We must be ready to assist the court not based selfishly on primordial partisan interest to becloud the real issues in dispute. We must practice and assist the courts or the Tribunals to dispense justice in its purest form and not to erect road blocks to attaining justice.”
The senior advocate reserved his sharpest language for advocacy he says is designed to defeat rather than serve justice.
“When we as lawyers argued causes and matters in the chameleon’s manners to impose injustice and pervert the cause of justice and produce unjust decisions, we murdered justice and enthroned evil,” he wrote.
He connected that practice directly to the state of the country’s electoral jurisprudence. “It is these kind of practices that have helped to enthrone democratic dictatorship in our electoral jurisprudence and have emboldened political rascality in our body politics.”
Okutepa said the responsibility does not rest on the Bar alone, and called on the Bench to check what he described as chameleon advocacy.
“The judex too must be up and doing to check the chameleons nature of advocacy of some lawyers who consistently arguing points inconsistently in aid of injustice,” he wrote.
He recalled the pronouncement of Niki Tobi, JSC, in Abubakar v. Yar’Adua (2008) 19 NWLR (Pt.1120) 1 at 177 to 178, paras. H to G: “I hate to say what I want to say to end this judgment. But I must say it. No human being, and I repeat no human being can influence me in the performance of my judicial duties. Only God can. Fortunately, God is holy and can never make us commit sin. Let every human being get that one straight for now and forever.”
He then put the question to the present Bench. “How many of our Judex today can boldly and confidently re-echo the above notable pronouncement?”
The senior advocate said public suspicion of the profession is not without foundation.
“Nigerians are worried that lawyers are Nigerians problems. They may not be far from being correct,” he wrote.
He drew the line he says must not be crossed. “No one says lawyers should not do their jobs. But in doing so no lawyer should act as a misleading minister in the temple of justice. No lawyer should knowingly mislead the court or Tribunals in the guise of performing professional duties.”
Okutepa issued a warning to the Association about the consequences of inaction.
“The professional Association of lawyers in Nigeria, NBA must wake up and act decisively before Nigerians start stoning all Nigerians lawyers. And in the mob justice that Nigerian people may serve Nigerian lawyers, both the good and the bad lawyers may not be spared. Please note it.”
He added a qualification. “I am not an advocate of doom. But we need to watch the way we practice in Nigeria as lawyers.”
Comparing the profession’s standing at home with its standing elsewhere, he wrote: “In advanced countries, lawyers are the light that shine in darkness. But here it appears that darkness has overshadowed the purity of legal practice to the prejudice of justice. This is so sad.”
He continued: “When lawyers are ready to play the spoiler role in adversarial system then justice is doomed. Yes these are the roles some accepted to play openly to the irritation and annoyance of justice. Yet these lawyers still call themselves ministers in the temple of justice. Too sad.”
The senior advocate raised what he described as a further disturbing issue, namely the absence of timely relief.
“There is no immediate remedies for victims of wrongs in Nigeria. It is because of lack of immediate justice in Nigeria that impunity and corruption have become thriving businesses in Nigeria today,” he wrote.
He tied that to the country’s prospects. “No society can develop politically and economically when its justice system is polluted and contaminated with viruses of delay and judgments that defiled logic of justice.”
Okutepa closed with an assessment of judicial independence and a statement of the burden he says the Bar now carries.
“Some of the judgments from the judiciary seem to suggest that the justice system lacked the much needed independence of a virile judiciary system. An independent judiciary is the cornerstone of democratic growth and development. The duty on Nigerian lawyers to prevent democratic dictatorship is heavy indeed.”
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