By Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja.
“The phrase “the mirror has two faces” suggests that someone or something can appear one way on the surface but have a hidden, often contrasting, side, implying a sense of duality or deception.”
There is even a 1996 movie of the same title.
In this article, I have, borrowed and culled the title: “The Mirror Has Two Faces” as a metaphor to describe the potential for dual roles that lawyers who are public officials or who work as lawyers for public officials can play depending on their CHOICE!!
Such lawyers could make a conscious choice to either promote public interests or use their office to loot public funds for themselves and/or their principals.
Such lawyers could either uphold both legal and professional ethical standards or do otherwise.
With each choice comes consequences!!!
Such consequences are either for the overall benefit of Nigeria or for the economic underdevelopment of Nigeria.
To illustrate the foregoing argument, I will rely upon the example of two lawyers who served and still serve within the public sector. One of them is a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. The second example is a lawyer who currently serves as the in-house lawyer to the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
On the 26th March 2025, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) made a public announcement that increasingly more Nigerian lawyers are getting involved in infractions of professional ethical standards. Her report is in an online newspaper: https://dailypost.ng/2025/03/26/cjn-kekere-ekun-laments-rising-level-of-unethical-conduct-among-nigerian-lawyers/
Her statement was based upon empirical evidence, based on the 2025 reports of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC). The CJN then charged the Body of Benchers (BoB) to deal with this malaise.
One of the cases that the LPDC has had to deal with in recent times, involved the immediate past AGF.
Although, not reported to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), the former AGF was involved in the total collapse and loss of estimated revenue of over $3,000,000,000 (three billion dollars) per annum that ought to be generated by one of the federal government agencies under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Justice.
This is revenue that is supposed to flow from royalties for creative artists under the collective management organisations.
Instead of allowing this ecosystem to be administered in accordance with the laid down legislation and Regulations, the said AGF, intervened in this sector and destroyed the entire ecosystem.
In my capacity as a former Chairman of the Governing Board of a certain federal government agency within this sector, I was an eyewitness to this AGF’s professional unethical actions.
A certain Director-General of one of the agencies under the supervision of this AGF was caught red-handed, with bank statements as proof of rigging this ecosystem by collecting both double salaries from the federal government of Nigeria as well as from one private sector organisation under the regulation of this federal government agency.
Even with all the evidence submitted to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), the said AGF, let it slide with the attendant consequence that that whole ecosystem is completely destroyed as no foreign investors are willing to invest in this ecosystem since the Nigerian regulator refuses to play by the said legislation and Regulations that ought to govern the ecosystem. So over $3,000,000,000 (three billion dollars) per annum is lost!!!
The second lawyer that illustrates the potential of public sector lawyers is Dr. Monday Ubani, SAN. He currently serves as the in-house lawyer to the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He was previously a Vice-President of the Nigerian Bar Association-NBA and former Chairman of the NBA’s Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL).
It is hoped that his previous experience will come to bear on his current position.
We are still watching how he would utilise his current position to promote adherence to professional ethics.
The views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Law & Society Magazine.
