Spurious, sweeping, and unsubstantiated allegations against judicial officers, legal practitioners, or any member of the society, only goes to hurt the nation and rocks the foundation of its existence. – Y.C Maikyau, SAN
For failing to withdraw her comments on a judgment of a court and tender an apology to the court within seven days, the president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria Mr. Yakubu C. Maikyau has revealed that the association has concluded plans to institute an action against the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen.
Maikyau SAN, in his address at the Special Session of the Supreme Court to mark the commencement of the 2022/2023 legal year and the conferment of the rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria noted that on 15 October 2022, the social media was agog with the news of the statement credited to the Minister of Women Affairs, who described the Judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Yola as “a Kangaroo Judgment”.
Consequently, he made attempts to reach the Minister to confirm if she indeed made the statement.
“When I did not get any response or acknowledgement” he continued, “I wrote a letter to the Minister and requested her to withdraw the statement and apologise to the Court because the statement was contemptuous of the Court and an affront to the Rule of Law.
“I added that, if the Minister fails to withdraw the statement as requested, the NBA will approach the Court and seek for declarations that the Minister is unfit to hold public office. My Lords, 7 days have lapsed, the Minister has not recanted and the NBA will definitely seek redress in Court.”
According to the Bar President, “the reaction that followed my letter to the Minister was a publication credited to one John Egbeazien Oshodi, who cited previous statements credited to Mr. Mike Ozekhome SAN and Femi Falana SAN, to justify his (Oshodi)support for the Minister’s remarks, insisting that the minister properly described the ways in which Nigerian Courts conduct themselves.
“The title of the publication read ‘In Nigerian Courts, Kangaroo and perverted methods abound Maikyua (sic), why are you requesting Mrs. Tallen’s Apology Over Human Rights Concerns? As Ozekhome and Falana Voiced the same concerns.’ The said Oshodi was inter alia introduced as an American based Police/Prison Scientist and Forensic/Clinical/Legal Psychologist.
“In my inaugural speech on 26 August 2022, I referenced the email by Adekunbi Ogunde which clearly portrayed the entire Legal Profession – Bench and the Bar, as susceptible to manipulations. This email led to several derogatory remarks about the Courts, the administration of Justice in Nigeria with cartoons, making a caricature of the Legal Profession.
“My Lords, all these are matters within the public domain. The psyche of Nigerians have been fed with these information and we are being watched every day, every step of the way. The Judge who sought to have Mr. Falana explain if he obtained the judgment from his Court as a commodity from a supermarket was summoned before the National Judicial Council (NJC) on a petition that he was intimidating and harassing Counsel.
“Beyond this effort by the trial Court to challenge such sweeping derogatory reference to the Courts which was short-lived or truncated by the conversion of the Judge to a respondent to the petition (which I must admit was within the purview of the NJC to look into), Judges and Justices cannot speak for themselves and nothing to my knowledge was done by either the NJC or the Bar to challenge this statement and deal with the negative narrative created in the minds of Nigerians. The reaction to all these was a complete silence.
“Lest we be misunderstood, the NBA does not and will never support any form of corrupt practice amongst members of the Bench or Bar or in way condone any professional misconduct no matter the age or status of the legal practitioner involved; for there are no separate rules of professional conduct for the old and for the young. The standard is and remains the same for all legal practitioners and ditto the code of ethics for all judicial officers from the apex court to the lowest court in the land.
“My concern has to do with how members of the Bar will make far-reaching sweeping remarks about members of the Bench and the Bar without any proof of the allegations so made. If any Judge or Justice is alleged to have been compromised, the most patriotic thing that anyone would do is to provide the evidence to the law enforcement agencies – ICPC, EFCC or the Police and insist they proceed against such a Judge or Justice based on concrete evidence.
“But where sweeping allegations are made, negative and damaging impressions are created of the judiciary and the entire legal profession in the minds of the public, the necessary confidence which the justice system must command in order to deliver justice to the people will be completely eroded and the inevitable result will be chaos and anarchy.
“While those who have continually found delight in making such far reaching but unsubstantiated statements to the applause of some Nigerians, appear to have been firmly set in their ways, it is important to let them know that any spurious, sweeping and unsubstantiated allegations against judicial officers, legal practitioners or any member of the society, only goes to hurt the nation and rocks the foundation of its existence. For where the Nigerian public loses confidence in the judicial system, there will not be a country for even those who make the accusations to live in.
“When we talk this way, we as legal practitioners are doing the greatest disservice to the Nigerian people… To talk about the institutions of justice in derogatory manner; as corrupt and fraudulent, as supermarkets and kangaroos, without stepping out with concrete evidence to punish the erring members of the legal profession allegedly involved in these practices, is self-incriminating, if not worse than the alleged corrupt practices…
“But my Lords, what those who make these comments (lawyers and non-lawyers) say or do to bring dispute to the Legal profession – the Bench and the Bar, and erode public confidence in the justice system, is not as colossal in its destruction of the Nation as the silence of many members of the profession, who should speak up to negate the false narrative that is being fed into the psyche of Nigerians on a daily basis.
“It is not so much about the action of those who abuse and disparage the justice system without substantiating their allegations, as it is about the reaction to what is being done or said; our collective silence…When the impression was given to Nigerians that the entire legal profession can be manipulated by one individual or group of persons, we know that was not true but we all kept quiet.
“That silence could only have meant that it was true and that is what has been fed to the psyche of Nigerians, who look up to the legal profession for guidance. For if the legal profession accepts that it can be manipulated, then what we are telling Nigerians like I said earlier is that when we come together to dispense justice, we should not be taken seriously and definitely we are telling Nigerians not to accept the outcome of the process…
“In my inaugural speech, I did say that unless issues of professional misconduct in the legal profession are dealt with decisively, the silence over such issues will hurt the profession and the Nigerian public. It is our responsibility as lawyers to always speak-up and we must not shirk to provide this leadership…
“We must consciously and deliberately shape the mindset and psyche of the Nigerian public with honest and sincere information that will keep their confidence in the Justice that we serve…
