By Tonye Clinton Jaja.
Ideally, lawyers are supposed to be exceptional leaders by virtue of their professional training.
The curriculum of legal training of lawyers includes courses such as professional ethics, solicitors accounts and other rules of both civil and criminal procedures.
Ideally, such training ought to translate into effective management of the relationship between any lawyer and others (whether clients or non-clients).
There is still an opportunity for the top ten lawyers that are currently members of the 10th Assembly of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to deploy their lawyering skills to de-escalate and manage the challenge arising from the current Senate Natasha issue.
For the records the tops ten lawyers, in no particular order of hierarchy are as follows:
- Senate President, His Excellency, Godswill Obot Akpabio-GOA;
- Senator Adeniyi Ayodele Adegbonmire, SAN;
- Senator Kaka Shehu Lawan, SAN;
- Senator Simon Lalong;
- Senator Ned Nwoko;
- Senator Neda Imasuen (lawyer in Nigeria, not USA);
- Senator Seriake Dickson;
- Senator Agom Jarigbe;
- Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan;
- Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (MOB).
The foregoing can learn something from the tenure of another Senator and lawyer who led the Senate from the year 2000 to May 2003.
He managed to provide stability and cohesion with the 109 members of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
As culled from his website, below are details of Senator Pius Anyim’s tenure as President of the Senate, it is as follows:
“Sen. Anyim’s experiences shaped him into the man he is today; a man of deep faith in God; a vigorous problem solver, crisis manager, and consensus builder. He was first elected Senator at age 37 to represent Ebonyi South Senatorial District, on the platform of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) In 1998. He was again elected Senator on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999. On the 10th of August, 2000, Sen. Anyim, at the age of 39 years, was unanimously, elected President of the 4th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
As President of the Senate, Senator Anyim inherited a crisis-ridden and factionalised Senate. But with the solid support and cooperation of his fellow Senators, he was able to stabilise the Senate, shored up public confidence in the Senate and indeed the National Assembly; and enhance the integrity and dignity of the legislature as the bastion of democracy. The Senate under the watch of Sen. Anyim was focused, cohesive, confident, and productive.
The 4th Senate, a greater part of when Sen. Anyim presided over, passed sixty-five bills and seventy-two resolutions, among which are:
- The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Establishment Act;
- The Onshore/Offshore Dichotomy Act;
- The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission Establishment Act;
- The Police Service Commission Establishment Act;
- The National Examination Council (NECO) Establishment Act;
- The Small and Medium Scale Industries Development Agency Establishment Act;
- The National Roads Maintenance Agency Establishment Act;
- The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) Establishment Act.
By the end of Sen. Anyim’s tenure as President of the Senate, the Senate was re-established as a stable and respected institution, a fierce defender of democracy and a catalyst for good governance.
Prior to his election as a Senator, he held several executive positions in the Directorate for Social Mobilisation, with extensive experience in drawing up mobilization programmes, strategies and manuals for the Directorate’s operations. From 1989 through to 1992, he served as the Social Justice Co-ordinator, and later as Legal Adviser to the Directorate for Social Mobilisation (MAMSER) Headquarters, Abuja.”
