Gazetted RPC: NBA Says Removal Of Stamp And Seal By AGF Is Illegal, We May Go To Court

The Nigerian Bar Association has reacted to the alleged removal of the Stamp and Seal from the NBA Constitution by the Attorney General of Federal, Abubakar, Malami.

TheNigeriaLawyer recalls that the legal community was on Saturday morning confronted with a document purportedly emanated from the AGF, which allegedly expunged section 9(2) of the NBA Constitution.

The National Publicity Secretary of the NBA, Dr Rapuluchukwu Nduka, in his statement said that the leader of the Bar were not aware of this new development but only had the knowledge of the amendment of the RCP online.

He further noted that the members of GCB were also taken by surprise as they never held any meetings regarding the amendment which falls within their ambit.

However, he said the Association is on the matter to get more clarity on the issue as the unilateral amendment of the Act by the AGF is illegal and that the NBA would take any step within the ambit of the law including going to court to ensure the reversal.

Nduka said, “Concerning the publication about the amendment of the RPC  (Rules of Professional Conduct), we saw it the way every other person saw it. I woke up this morning to see the publication. We want to believe that some things are not right. One of the things that is that it cannot be amended just that way. The law gives the power to the Bar Council to do the amendment. From what we hear, no member of the Bar Council who is a member of the NBA was aware. There was no meeting of the Bar Council when such decision was made.

“Up till now we also don’t have any official communication to that effect.

“We will be asking that some clarifications be made. Once we have the clarification I can tell you that any other steps including going to court to ensure the right thing is done will be taken. We are a law-abiding institutional body, we can’t just do anything outside the ambit of the law.

We will take every step within the ambit of the law to ensure that the proper things are done. Even if it means going to court, we won’t be constrained to do that.”