Human Rights Activist, Professor Chidi Odinkalu has stated that the purported amendment of the Rules of Professional Conduct, 2007 by AGF, Abubakar Malami is done without the requisite power under the Law.
This is contained in a tweet which was sighted by TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL).
“Nigeria’s Attorney-General & Minister of Justice, @MalamiSan, claims to have amended Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) in the Legal Profession under powers conferred by s.12(4l) of Legal Practitioners Act. There’re no such powers? We have a HAGF (that) can’t do basic due diligence.
“The power to “prepare, and from time to time revise, a statement as to the kind of conduct which the Council considers to be infamous conduct in a professional respect” created in s.11(4) of the Legal Practitioners Act, belongs to the #Bar Council not to the HAGF.
“The #BarCouncil is a statutory body created by s.1 of the Legal Practitioners Act. It comprises 57 persons, made up of:
1. HAGF as president;
2. All state attorneys age metal
3. 20 reps of @NigBarAssoc.
“No meeting of the #BarCouncil has been called in order to amend the RPC
“The purported amendment of the RPC by @MalamiSan is as dud as a bounced cheque because:
1. He claims to have acted under a section of the law that gives him no such powers;
2. Even if he acted under the right provision, he can’t usurp the role of the #BarCouncil & he knows it!
“The only way to go is to totally disregard & ignore this alleged “amendment” by (AGF) @MalamiSan of the RPC. It does not exist & did not happen.
“It seems clear that @MalamiSan decided to go rogue on this – as on other things as he has on disobedience of court orders – because he knows that he can’t get his proposal through the #BarCouncil.
“Few tragedies are as awful as an attorney-general with no regard for law.” He said.
