The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Okey Wali SAN has warned members of the legal profession to desist from making comments that can impugn on the integrity if the courts or face disciplinary actions. He stressed that members of the National Assembly must obey the order of the court at all times.
The Bar leader was reacting to the incident that happened at the House of Representatives where the All Progressive Congress (APC) attempted to take over the leadership of the House based on its simple majority. The move was resisted by the peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) who relied on the order of a Federal High Court that directed that status quo be maintained.
Wali commended the Speaker, Hon. Waziri Aminu Tambuwal, for dousing the “unnecessary disorder caused by what the he (Tambuwal) referred to, as an expensive New year joke, and an attempt in surreptitiously disregarding a valid and subsisting order of court, that status quo be maintained with regards to the leadership positions of the House of Representatives, pending the hearing and determination of the pending motion on notice”.
He however stated that the bar was deeply concerned about the language of some Honourable members of the House of Representative at a press conference that followed later that day, with a member of the Bar threatening that the order of court would be obeyed up and until the next court date in February, when according to him, the court must determine the whole matter.
“We find this rather very impudent, and alarmed at such a statement from a member of the Bar to a court,” he said “We want to believe that that was a slip that would never be repeated, because the NBA will not hesitate to take disciplinary actions against its members, in or out of government, whose actions or utterances are considered disrespectful to a court of law;
“The Bar must at all times protect the integrity and dignity of the courts. Whoever is dissatisfied with a court order, has a responsible option of bringing another application to have the order under reference set aside by the same court or go to the Court of Appeal”.
He continued, “Politics must give way to the serious business of law making in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly, which is a matter of responsibility, the legislature being the hallmark of any democracy. We therefore seize this opportunity to call on the attention of all the distinguished senators and house Members to the Justice sector bills in the National Assembly, such as: the Legal Practitioners Act Amendment Bill; Administration of Criminal Justice Bill; Prisons & Police Bills and other important Bills like the Petroleum Industry Bill”, he concluded.
