By FRANK AGBEDO

The on-going Annual Bar Conference of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), reputed as the largest assemblage of lawyers in black Africa, with a staggering population of over 10,000 members in attendance, from every part of the country and even beyond, at the prestigious Tinapa Resort in Calabar, Cross River State, under the audacious theme, “ Law, Leadership and Challenges of Nationhood in the 21stCentury Nigeria”, with Prof. Jonas Isawa Elaigwu, an erudite Professor of Law, as the Keynote speaker.

The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) is the umbrella organization of all lawyers admitted to practice law in the country, whether in public or private practice, the membership being automatic, by virtue of having been first called to the Nigerian Bar, after passing the rigorous fitness test, set under the guiding ethos and intellect of the founding fathers.

At the core of its aims and objectives is playing a leading role as the vanguard for the promotion of the rule of law, democracy and good governance, as critical factors for growth and sustainable socio-economic and political development in Nigeria, and the absence of which would be the bitter prescription for a failed state, a situation never wished for but which comes as a natural direct consequence of the choices we make as a nation.

It is therefore without doubt that the aspirations of the Association should be a reflection of those of its founding fathers, particularly, that of the first Nigerian lawyer, Late Mr. Alexander Christopher Sapara Williams, enrolled as a lawyer, in 1888 and died much later in 1915, and who had poignantly and classically posited that, “A Legal Practitioner lives for the direction of his people and the advancement of the cause of his country.”

The official bar is the conscience of the nation and as such should effectively deploy the instrumentality of the law to stimulate, drive and galvanize social change in the society no matter whose ox is gored and especially so under a civilian democratic dispensation. The above critical role could only materialize under a courageous, honest, vibrant, independent, industrious, united and knowledgeable bar association and not one that totters and grovels under the apron strings of the executive.

An honest review of the state of the nation reveals a country in need of urgent deliverance, occasioned by unrelenting depletion in values, massive corruption in high and low places, and which has  orchestrated deep crisis in all critical sectors of the economy, particularly, the criminal Justice system, leaving behind on its trail, brazen violation of human rights, large scale poverty, moral decadence, communal and ethnic rivalry, religious and political bigotry, the growing spate of kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism, youth restiveness, armed insurgency and acts of brigandage witnessed across the country on regular basis.

Any effort towards real human and economic development without consideration for the promotion and protection of the fundamental rights of the people results in utter deficiency and therefore would amount to progress made in reverse order, or motion without movement. A depressing cumulative effect of the government’s failure and inability to make meaningful progress in governance is clearly attributable to its lack of commitment to the rule of law and the advancement of the rights of the citizens.

The slant of this intervention is primarily to interrogate the role of the official bar, so far, in addressing these pertinent challenges facing the profession and the entire nation in general, with an eye to drawing its attention to the necessity of an urgent remedy and immediate action.

The other day, a friend of mine told me that very soon the people’s wrath and frustration over the abysmal state of affairs in the country, would be turned against the lawyers, for the simple but sensible reason that, as the last hope of the common man and also the conscience of the nation, we should bear the brunt of their anger, for failing to call the government to order and redress the inglorious decent to perfidy. This is must be food for thought for all of us attending this conference.

We, as the voice of the voiceless, defenders of the poor and powerless, as well as, the agents of change in the society cannot get tired of appraising the status of governance in Nigeria despite the fact that we have a semblance of civilian democracy in place, as the issue of good governance, have remained relevant and in the front burner of public discourse both under the military and not any less now, in the light of our current deplorable and progressively diminishing human development record among the comity of nations, where we claim to assert our membership.

As you read this, hundreds and thousands of citizens (mostly the poor) are daily clamped into Police cells for minor or even in some cases, no offences at all, without bail, despite their right to bail under the constitution.

Prison population

Recent statistics released by the human rights committee of the N.B.A. Lagos branch, show that there are well over 70,000, prison in mates (constituting about 80% of the entire prison population), currently being incarcerated as suspects and accused persons in various jail houses, across the country, awaiting trial, for different offences allegedly committed by them, ranging from simple offence to acts of misdemeanor, some for offence not known to law, and are mostly forgotten. What has the NBA done in this regard?.

Without doubt, the instruments of law, remains, the greatest bulwark against the perpetration of these acts of injustice and all other forms of vices and obnoxious practices in any society. It is only a society governed by rule of law and due process that can guarantee life and personal liberty of the citizens.

The leadership of the Bar had not clearly risen to the expectations of the people for a better deal from the leaders, arising from their inability to proactively engage the present administration, through advocacy and even public interest litigations, to protect the citizens and ensure a just and equitable society for the people where law and order would reign supreme, and expectedly, the results have been uninspiring-ly poor , not just  because of absence of commitment on the part of the official bar, to drive the process to its logical ends, but more importantly, due to virtual lack of political will on the part of the government to “walk their talk”, as far as respecting the rule of law and constitutionalism is concerned.

There is therefore an urgent necessity for the Association to buckle up and rejuvenate the human rights agenda, by fully leveraging upon the provisions of new Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009, which has liberalized access to justice for all, irrespective of one’s status in life thereby curing the defects of the former 1979 Rules, that constituted a stumbling block to effective justice delivery, through the restrictive interpretation of the doctrine of locus standi .

The NBA must at this point in our national history, read the Riot Act to the present administration, led by a President that is not averse to constructive criticisms, by making specific demands, coupled with definite time lines, for confronting the depressing human rights situation, failure of public infrastructure, particularly in the electricity, health and educational sectors) mass unemployment induced poverty, mindless avarice and looting of public treasure, pervasive corruption, frightening insecurity, garrison politics, as well as, other thorny issues tearing apart the social fabric of Nigeria, and also to set up strong machineries for effective monitoring and implementation of the terms of engagement.