Emmanuel Ukudolo
November 7, 2015 – The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to “urgently investigate the conduct of lawyers representing President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, for walking out on the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Thursday.
The lawyers, 25 of them, all Senior Advocates of Nigeria(SAN), when the judge refused their request to wait for judgement of the Supreme Court where Saraki is praying the Supreme Court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, the entire proceedings of the CCT and the charges preferred against him before the tribunal by the Federal Government.
Saraki is of the view that the appellate court panel led by Justice Moore Adumein, erred in law when it affirmed the competence of the proceedings of the CCT, which sat on the appellant’s case with only two members as against the three provided for in the provisions of Paragraph 15(1) of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.
But SERAP said that though Sakari’s lawyers walked out to serve their client’s best interest, but that they should not have acted in a manner that would put the administration of justice and the society’s confidence in the judicial system and the fight against corruption at risk.
In a statement signed by Executive Director, SERAP, Mr. Adetokunbo Mumuni the organisation said that walking out on the Code of Conduct Tribunal for simply and correctly applying section 305(e) of the newly enacted Administration of Criminal Justice Act is disrespectful.
“It offends the basic rule that lawyers should act with integrity and professionalism, maintaining his or her overarching responsibility to ensure civil conduct.”
“SERAP believes that a lawyer’s duty to the court is a fundamental obligation that defines a lawyer’s role within the adversarial system. Lawyers should at all times act to promote the rule of law and the public’s confidence in the administration of justice and not to be seen to undermine it or facilitate an infringement of the law.
“As we have seen many times, without the rule of law, the rule of the jungle takes hold and the economically and socially vulnerable fall victim to the strong and nobody is safe. The rule of law also creates a disincentive for would-be corrupt officials”, SERAP said.
It noted that the Senior lawyers especially have a responsibility to act as the guardians of the rule of law by contributing to a strong judicial and legal system which is crucial to a well-functioning democracy and which in turn is necessary to satisfactorily prevent and combat years of official corruption in the country.
“If at all Saraki’s lawyers are dissatisfied with the ruling of the Tribunal there are laid down processes that they should have followed to demonstrate their role as officers in the temple of justice rather than granting media interviews and liberally abusing the Tribunal. We urge the NBA to urgently investigate what exactly happened and to punish any professional misconduct that may have occurred”, SERAP said.
