Admin l Monday, Jan. 28, 2019
ABUJA, Nigeria – The Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) has directed practising lawyers in the country to start boycotting courts as from tomorrow. The NBA gave the directive after rising from an emergency meeting in Abuja.
The NBA gave the directive as part of efforts to protest against President Muhammadu Buhari’s desecretation of the Nigerian constitution by suspending the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Kanu Onnoghen who is head of the third arm of government.
Nigeria operates a presidential system of government that clearly spells out the principle of seperation of powers. The NBA feels that by suspending the CJN and appointing Tanko Mohammed as CJN in acting capacity, the president has overreached his powers.
The boycott, which begins tomorrow Tuesday, will last for two days. Earlier, the NBA in a statement signed by its President Paul Usoro, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to reverse his decision, stressing that the decision to unilaterally suspend Onnoghen was unconstitutional.
The President had said it suspended the CJN based on order of the Code of Conduct Tribunal(CCT), which today adjourned indefinitely.
