- Tambuwal urges the judiciary to restore hope to Nigeria
By Lillian Okenwa
Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf on Thursday expressed concern over the continual decline in respect to human dignity in Nigeria.
Noting that a number of performance indexes indicate that Nigeria is below par in the matter of respect to human dignity, His Lordship who was Chairman of the Occasion of the 2023 Law Week of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Abuja, Unity Bar, held that it is the responsibility of lawyers to work towards raising the bar in this regard and in ensuring the protection of the rights of its citizens.
Declaring the Law Week open, Justice Baba-Yusuf, congratulated the Unity Bar for keeping up the age-long tradition of law week.
Tracing the origins of Law Week to the 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who in 1958 made the Proclamation 3221—Law Day, a day set aside to remember the Law, Hon. Justice S. C. Oriji who represented the Chief Judge added that the importance of networking in events like this should not be neglected.
Keynote speaker and former governor of Sokoto State, Senator Waziri Tambuwalin his paper—The Crucial Role of Legal Professionals in Reforming Nigeria’s Socio-Political Economy, gave clues on how the judiciary could restore hope to Nigeria.
“In the judicature legal professionals are clearly dominant: the entire court system is manned by magistrates, judges, and justices who are legal professionals. The primary function of the judiciary is to ensure justice for the people. The courts play a huge role in deciding the fate of parties in a dispute. It also punishes people for committing crimes. The parties in dispute, in the case of Nigeria, may be between the tiers of government, between citizens and government, or between one citizen and another. Social conflict will escalate and where there is no hope that justice will be served by recourse to the courts, anarchy may result.
“In Attorney General of Abia State & Ors vs Attorney General of the Federation (2003)LLJR- SC the Attorneys-General of the 36 had challenged the power of the president in making an Execute Order altering the provision of Act of the National Assembly on revenue allocation formula. The Supreme Court held that the action of the President was lawful under his constitutional power to modify the law for purposes of implementation.
“This successfully resolved what would have injected a feud between the two arms of Government. In the protection of the rights of citizens against reckless use of governmental powers, the celebrated case of Shugaba Darman vs Federal Minister &Ors readily comes to mind. In the instant case, the Federal Minister of Internal Affairs had issued a deportation order against Shugaba then a legislator. The Maiduguri High Court ruled in favour of Shugaba, revoked the deportation order, and awarded damages to the tune of 350,000 Naira to Shugaba. The Federal government appealed the verdict to the Court of Appeal and again lost. Here the judiciary had effectively protected the right of a citizen against the state in line with the dictates of the rule of law.
“We had earlier indicated corruption as one of the socio-political challenges facing the nation. We also discussed legislative interventions through the enactment of laws. It is only when the judiciary applies the laws and culprits are punished that the desired deterrence is realized. In other words, through this process, the judiciary is able to curb crimes. Even in the relationship between the executive and the Legislature conflicts arise and it is the place of the judiciary to resolve such disputes.”
While the Solicitor General of the Federation Beatrice Jedy-Agba, in her goodwill message tasked lawyers on the need to continue using law as a tool for social justice, Chairman of NBA Gwagwalada Branch Emmanuel Tayo Ogunjipe who spoke on behalf of other visiting Chairpersons in the FCT — Bwari, Garki, and Nyanya/Karu Branch counselled that all three arms must work together to deliver justice to the citizens.
Giving an insight into what the Law Week has to offer, Chairman of the branch Afam Okeke revealed that throughout the course of the event, “we will explore various facets of the interaction. We will delve into topics such as subsidy and Nigeria’s energy sector, thriving in an ever-changing legal world, and the role of lawyers in shaping Nigeria’s democratic landscape.
“Our aim is to foster a robust dialogue, share insights, and inspire innovative approaches that uphold justice in this rapidly changing landscape.”
