The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), was alleged to have issued sanction threats against the legal practitioners who criticised the Supreme Court judgement affirming Ahmad Lawan, the incumbent Senate President, as the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Yobe North Senatorial District.
Prior to the issuance of the alleged threat, many prominent lawyers had raised eyebrows against the apex court judgement and therefore described the verdict as a daylight robbery of Bashir Machina’s mandate, the man whom both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal had initially affirmed as the authentic candidate of the APC for Yobe North Senatorial District.
While Mr. Maikyau may have issued out threats in a bid to protect the sanctity of the judiciary, his approach in the heat of the controversy revolving around the apex court decision is faulty. The Learned Silk ought to have been more circumspect in addressing the matter. Mr. Maikyau could have simply enlightened the public on the danger of denigrating the judicial institution, and portrayed himself as an intermediary between the dissenting voices and the Supreme Court.
This mode of intervention would have sufficed rather than the utterances which portrayed him as the Supreme Court’s spokesperson. Mr. Maikyau has done well in his timely intervention between some lawyers and the Supreme Court. He was not expected to have folded his arms. The only lacuna was the approach applied by him. Mr. Maikyau, by virtue of his office, has the onus to protect the judicial institution. At the same time, he is an officer of the NBA vested with the responsibility to address the grievances of its members.
Dispute is inevitable between the Bar and the Bench. Striking a relative balance between the judicial institution and the members of the NBA requires diplomacy and behind the scenes’ engagement across the board. The NBA leadership must manage rising disputes proportionally without resorting to confrontational and autocratic approaches.
No lawyer has ever displayed incessant denigratory and discourteous attitudes towards Nigeria’s judicial institution than the current Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN. Till the moment, neither the NBA leadership nor the judicial institution seems to have regarded the flouting of court orders by Mr. Malami as the greatest disrespect to Nigeria’s judiciary and the legal profession.
Presently, no other lawyer deserves to face disciplinary actions than Mr. Malami. The dignity of Nigeria’s judicial institution and the legal profession can be resuscitated if Mr. Maikyau could judiciously use his good offices and take this bold step rather than imposing undeserving penalties on other lawyers.
Binzak Azeez, Newworth LLP (Legal Practitioners), Onikan, Lagos
