Culled from Eastern Bar Forum’s WhatsApp
STATEMENT ON THE UNCONSTITUTIONALITY AND ILLEGALITY OF THE SUSPENSION OF HON. NIMI WALSON-JACK FROM THE NEC OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION.
Introduction
The Nigerian Bar Association at the last meeting of its National Executive Council held on Thursday, 15 December 2022, in Abuja, Nigeria, deliberated on a crackdown on members of the Legal Profession who are advocating and championing the formation of a new Professional Association for Lawyers in Nigeria and resolved to take punitive measures against them.
In paragraph 2.1(e) of its Communique issued on 15th December 2022, and signed by Messrs. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN, and Daniel Ka-ayii Kip, its President, and Assistant General Secretary, respectively, the NBA stated “NEC particularly resolves that a past General Secretary, Mr. Nimi Walson-Jack, who acted as a Solicitor to the promoters of the new Law Society be stripped of his privileges as past General Secretary and consequently, be suspended from being a member of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Association.”
The communique is clear on the fact that the reason for punishment (if it could be called that) is for discharging a professional duty to provide legal services to members of society.
I am the Hon. Nimi Walson-Jack, a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and the person referred to in the communique. For nearly four decades, I have combined legal practice with stints in academia, public service, politics, and civil society promoting and defending the rights of people in Nigeria and around the world. From 2004 – 2006, I served as the General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association.
The resolution to punish me for representing the promoters of the new law society is a return to the dark ages of socialism and communism when Governments sanctioned and jailed Lawyers for representing persons whose activities were considered contrary to those of the political leadership. This infamous resolution would win a gold medal in the coven of dictators, not in the assembly of Lawyers in defense of Democracy and the Rule of Law. It is an affront to the right of Lawyers to represent the diverse interests of their law-abiding clients.
Litany of Violations
The leadership of the NBA, by its resolution, breached the Constitution of the NBA, my fundamental right to a fair hearing, and the right of my Clients to Counsel of their choice. The President of the NBA was the accuser, persecutor, prosecutor, and Judge in his cause.
It is interesting to note that a weighty issue like the suspension of a past General Secretary from the decision-making body of the Association, was not listed on the Agenda for the Meeting, which was circulated in the morning of the meeting. I was neither informed of any complaint against me by any person, Lawyer, or non-lawyer nor asked to respond to any complaint or allegation bothering on my representation, as a Solicitor, of the interests of my clients, the promoters of a new Law Society who are citizens of Nigeria and distinguished Lawyers.
In the haste to condemn, the leadership of our Bar Association acted without observance of the basic procedure of listening to the other party. The President and the NEC did not invite me and did not hear from me before taking a decision that has tainted the image and reputation of the NBA. No opportunity was given to me to make a presentation before a penalty for a non-existent offence was imposed on me. For the avoidance of doubt, there is no provision in the Constitution of the NBA that prohibits a Lawyer and member of the Association from supporting, advocating, defending, promoting, or representing the promoters for the establishment of another Association of Lawyers in Nigeria. No offence was committed in my representation of the promoters of a new Law Society distinct from the NBA.
The Right of my clients to Counsel
The Right of every person to Counsel is a fundamental principle of the Rule of Law enshrined in global conventions, treaties, protocols, national legislation, and Rules of Professional Conduct. By Rule 24(1) of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) 2007, a lawyer in Nigeria must accept any brief, provided that the appropriate professional costs are paid or agreed upon.
The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers adopted 07 September 1990, by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Havana, Cuba, recognize the need for adequate protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms to which all persons are entitled, and requires that all persons have effective access to legal services provided by an independent legal profession. Access to lawyers and legal services is guaranteed. All persons are entitled to call upon the assistance of a lawyer of their choice to protect and establish their rights and to defend them.
By the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and the Rules of Professional Conduct for Lawyers in Nigeria, my duties toward my clients, the promoters of the Law Society in Nigeria, include:
a) advising them as to their legal rights and obligations, and as to the working of the legal system in so far as it is relevant to their legal rights and obligations;
b) assisting my clients in every appropriate way, and taking legal action to protect their interests; and
c) assisting them before courts, tribunals, or administrative authorities, including the Corporate Affairs Commission, to whom I wrote a letter on behalf of my clients.
The NBA as a professional association of lawyers has a vital role to play in upholding professional standards and ethics, protecting its members from persecution and improper restrictions and infringements, and providing legal services to all in need of them, furthering the ends of justice and public interest. Ironically, it is the leadership of a professional Association of lawyers that have threatened and impaired the guarantees and safeguards secured for the functioning of lawyers. It is the Bar Association and not the Government that has improperly interfered with my ability to perform all of my professional functions.
Dangerous Implications of the NBA-NEC decision
My suspension from the National Executive Council of the Nigerian Bar Association is an act of intimidation, and harassment, which hinders my ability to continue to provide legal services to citizens who incidentally are also Lawyers. The deliberations and resolutions of the NEC are an improper interference, as my clients and I are threatened and liable to suffer prosecution or administrative, economic, or other sanctions for an action taken by recognized professional duties, standards, ethics, and the law.
The civil and penal immunity I have enjoyed for 39 years as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria has been breached and violated by the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association, which should be defending my professional services and appearances before Courts, Tribunals or other legal or administrative Authorities, like the Corporate Affairs Commission.
In our Country, to refuse or decline to represent the interest of a party could be considered sanctionable under the Rules of Professional Conduct. The NEC of the NBA has colluded with the leadership to punish me for representing persons whose activities are contrary to the interests of some persons in leadership positions.
Threat to the Rule of Law
Both the process and substance of arriving at the resolution to sanction me have shown the NBA as being anti-Rule of Law and earned our previously esteemed Association a place in the hall of infamy of dictators and anti-Rule of Law elements who abound in mushroom organizations across Nigeria and the World.
The resolution to punish me for representing the promoters of the new law society is a return to the dark ages of socialism and communism when Governments sanctioned and jailed Lawyers for representing persons whose activities were considered contrary to those of the political leadership. This infamous resolution would win a gold medal in the coven of dictators, not in the assembly of Lawyers in defense of Democracy and the Rule of Law. It is an affront to the right of Lawyers to represent the diverse interests of their law-abiding clients.
The moral of the decision to suspend me is not lost when it is noted that among the NEC members who took this ignominious resolution are Lawyers who have represented corrupt politicians, election riggers, money-launderers, drug traffickers, kidnappers, and confessed murderers. As a Lawyer, one cannot deride them for the interests many of them represent because they were only discharging their legal responsibility.
Unconstitutionality
In deciding to suspend me from the NEC, the leadership of the Bar led by and including Senior Advocates of Nigeria was blinded by dislike or hate of my person, that they overlooked the Constitutionality of my membership. Section 8 (1) (b) of the NBA Constitution 2015, provides for automatic membership of the NEC by past Presidents and General Secretaries. In the process of my suspension, the leadership or the NBA chose in one breath to ignore our Constitution and in another breath amend the Constitution. The NEC has no power to suspend, expel or remove a statutory member like me unless the Constitution is amended, an exclusive preserve of the Annual General Meeting. Overriding our Constitution shows how low the leadership of the Bar has gone and is ready to go in furtherance of parochial interests.
History repeating itself
My suspension from the NEC is the second unconstitutional and illegal action the leadership of the NBA has embarked on within five months. The first was the suspension of a serving General Secretary, Mrs. Joyce Oduah, by the Olumide Akpata-led administration, which illegality was also ratified by NEC. Both the suspension and its ratification were set aside by a Federal High Court in Abuja. In its ruling, Justice Ahmed Mohammed held that the action of the NBA’s National Executive Committee (NEC) constituted an affront to the rule of law and overreached court proceedings in the suit. The Court held that the NBA-NEC which gave legal effect to the General Secretary’s suspension acted in “bad faith and utter disregard for the proceedings of the court.” This is an indictment of Lawyers who ought to know the Law and work for the ends of justice.
It beats the imagination of every rational being, why the leadership body of an Association of Lawyers would brazenly embark on actions, that even a Court of law has recognized as an affront to the Rule of law, in bad faith and utter disregard for the proceedings of the Court. They continue to act contrary to known legal and professional principles.
CALL TO ACTION
If the leadership of the NBA is allowed to get away with the illegality of my suspension for the reason that I represented the promoters of a new Law Society, then the right of Nigerians to Lawyers of their choosing, and the duty of Lawyers to our clients would become endangered. It would be a triumph of the whims and caprices of individuals over the Rule of Law.
International Lawyers’ Organizations, members of the Legal Profession in Nigeria and abroad, the Nigerian Judiciary, the Media, and Nigerians must begin to question the commitment of the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association to promote the Rule of Law. I commend the Nigerian Judiciary that has spotted the dark spot and acted timeously to checkmate the monster in its infancy.
Together, we must work conscientiously to put more nails in the coffin that would bury this insidious problem of violations of the basic tenets of the Rule of Law in our professional Organization. Unfortunately, the leadership of the NBA has deviated from promoting the Rule of Law. They have rather become a clear and present danger to the promotion of the Rule of Law.
A stitch in time saves nine.
