BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI
ABUJA—Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, has called for an  investigation into the allegation of judicial malpractice leveled against the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami.

The legal body, which made this call through a statement it issued yesterday, said it would neither condemn nor demand the resignation of any of the affected parties until an investigative committee it has set-up over the matter, files its report.

NBA further implored civil society groups who have threatened unilateral actions in the nature of strikes and cessation of work pending when the CJN resigns, to suspend such plans, insisting that such solutions at this stage would be cruel and pre-emptive of genuine efforts being made to solve the problems bedeviling the judiciary.

“The Nigerian Bar Association at its National Executive Meeting considered many issues confronting the legal profession including but not limited to the face-off between the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the President of the Court of Appeal.

Because of the expectations of certain constituencies from the afore described meeting, it is necessary to preface our communiqué with some background information

“It was agreed that the CJN/PCA face-off was a tip of the iceberg of the problems confronting the judiciary.

The problems were identified as  debilitating corruption eating into and corroding the entire judicial system, the face off itself, which could not be debated on account of the issue being subjudice in the sense that there are at the moment two suits pending in court on the subject matter and legal practitioners who promote corruption in a variety of ways in the system.

“One of the principles we cherish most which is enshrined by our Constitution is that ‘No Man should ever be condemned unheard’. Sitting as the NEC of our association we have neither the jurisdiction nor the powers (legal or moral) to pass judgment or apportion blame on either party. Whilst newspaper reports may be a good medium to gather information and goings-on and events, they do not constitute the material from which trained minds make quasi-judicial decisions such as the apportionment of blames one way or the other.

“Having identified with the benefit of being direct stakeholders acting in trust for the Nigerian people on the issues at stake, the Bar has come to a conclusion that premature activism which will not go beyond ineffectual name calling and blame casting are not the appropriate remedies.”

The panacea to the deep-rooted malaise of corruption in the judiciary, which has directly or indirectly manifested into the face-off calls for mature handling and not juvenile vituperations valid only on the pages of national dailies. The legal profession is a highly sensitive and specialized profession.

All and sundry are not competent to resolve internal crisis that arise therein notwithstanding that the crisis may have the potential or capacity to negatively affect the good people of Nigeria.

“Consequently, we must learn to trust our institutions such as the NBA when it speaks as to the way ahead of this problem. The NBA by its resolutions captured here below has shown that it is prepared to go beyond mere palliatives and political grandstanding to propound long lasting, just and comprehensive solutions to the crisis at hand.

The NBA will therefore not be distracted by emergency lawyers and armchair critics from skillfully, truthfully and expeditiously attending to these problems identified above.

The entire country is hereby assured that the committee which I will appoint shortly will investigate all matters incidental and or ancillary to the issues agitating the judiciary and the legal profession and will recommend drastic steps to correct the anomaly on a short and long term basis.

“NBA wishes to place on record that it is aware that the NJC has constituted a conflict resolution committee to resolve the crisis. It is hoped that this committee and the one to be set up by the NBA will at a point merge their efforts so as to come up with a uniform solution.

These bodies must act fast in order to not only redeem the image of the judiciary and legal profession but to restore the confidence of Nigerians in the process. We conclude on the note that our sister civil societies who have threatened unilateral action in the nature of strikes and cessation of work to suspend such plans.

The legal profession is still in a position to address the problems affecting its institutions. Such solutions at this stage would not only be cruel but would be preemptive of genuine efforts being made to solve the problem. Finally, we urge the media to exercise restraint in the way and manner it is covering this problem.

There has been a tendency to be judgmental over matters that its authors lack the skill or competence to cover. It is apparent that the media have unfortunately assumed a one sided posture in the matter.

The media must be aware of its professional duties to be balanced and provide opportunity for all sides of the issue to be heard. This has been absent in this matter. For now we advise that the press revert to its traditional role of fairness and balance. No one has the monopoly of a malicious pen”..