PROTOCOLS
1. I welcome you all to this August gathering – the Annual Conference of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL), holding in the beautiful city of Lagos – the Centre of Excellence.
2. I thank Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for the constant support the Nigerian Bar Association has received from Lagos State, for accepting, not only to host this conference but also being such a gracious host. 
3. The theme of this year’s conference, ‘POST ELECTION NIGERIA: The Judiciary in the Eye of the Storm’ is apposite as it speaks to the moment. In my Inaugural Address in August 2022, I noted that the ultimate outcome of the election will largely depend on the interface between the Bench, the Bar and the Political gladiators. I also noted that, as members of the Legal Profession, we owe Nigerians sincere and honest participation in the electoral process.
I consequently enjoined that we do all that is legitimately within our abilities, motivated by the desire to serve the course of justice, to ensure that the relevant laws and rules, properly interpreted and applied, remain the guiding principles for our involvement in the process. In this regard, a conversation on the role of members of the legal profession in the post- election Nigeria is not only timely but must be had. This must however be done circumspectly, given the fact that post-election disputes are currently sub judice. 
4. I have always maintained that the Bench and the Bar are one and the same. That is why, looking at the theme of this Conference, the reference to the judiciary, which is the Bench, is as good as a reference to the Bar. Consequently, in the post-election Nigeria, it is the entire legal profession: Bench and Bar, that is in the eye of the storm and vice versa. In 2018, at the Annual Conference of the Section on Legal Practice held in Port Harcourt, this is what I said on the relationship between the Bench and the Bar: “The Bench and the Bar are members of the same body of the person known as JUSTICE and are called to perform different functions to meet the demands of Justice. Both the Bench and the Bar share the same life, flowing from the organism called JUSTICE and, it is in this organism and for its purpose that we find them (Bench and Bar) performing their functions. In the discharge of their functions as members of this body, whatever appears adverse to the interest of justice is fought jointly by them. 
They have (or should have) symphony, harmony and must be concerted against any external force or influence which contends with the thresholds set by Justice. This is why lawyers and judges are referred to as ministers in the temple of justice.
The Bench and the Bar do not work for themselves; they work in the interest of Justice, and whatever the interplay is between their roles or functions must ideally serve the ends of Justice. There ought not to be a dissent between the Bench and the Bar, the Bar holds the Bench accountable as it defends the integrity of the Bench and the Bench does likewise by assisting to check the excesses within the Bar to keep it within professional bounds. This, in a nutshell, characterises the ideal relationship between the Bench and the Bar. When the true identity of the Bench and the Bar is allowed to pervade the consciousness of the members thereof, the challenges of the legal profession will be reduced to the barest minimum, if not totally eliminated. 
On the contrary, a misunderstanding of this identity will invariably lead to abuse. An understanding of this relationship will see members of the Bar conduct themselves with decorum, respect and candour while performing their roles as ministers in the temple of justice, as the priests, the Bench take charge of the proceedings in the temple, both motivated by the desire to do Justice. The Bar will not abuse the Bench, it will not collude with “strangers” to this autochthonous existence to harass and disparage the Bench. 
The Bar will not rejoice over the ordeal that befalls the Bench, rather it will be protective of the Bench. What we experienced a few years ago, where “strangers” broke into the premises of Justices and Judges in Gestapo style, in a purported bid to address issues of corruption and compromise, was the highest manifestation of failure on our part to look out for one another. We saw some members of the Bar conspire as it were with “aliens”, to wreak havoc to the institution of justice, while other members of the Bar discussed these matters with relish on television and in pages of newspapers. Whereas we do not and should not condone corruption in any form or guise, an understanding of our identity and ideal roles would have seen us approach the matter differently.” 
5. Our conversation must therefore proceed from this understanding that the Bar and the Bench are peas in a pod and reflect on each other, either negatively or positively. That is why I said in my inaugural address, that: “While we shall stand with the Courts and do everything legal to protect the integrity of the Bench against any form of intimidation by the political class, any person or group of persons, we will not hesitate to call out and pursue disciplinary action(s) against erring judicial officials. Similarly, members of the Bar who misconduct themselves while participating in the resolution of electoral disputes will face disciplinary action at the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) and the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), where Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) are involved.”
I hope our conversations in this Conference will be appropriately guided. 
6. I commend the Section and its Executives under the chairmanship of Dr Monday Ubani. I applaud particularly, the members of the 2023 SPIDEL Conference Planning Committee for the time and efforts they invested in making this programme a reality.
I. again extend my profound gratitude to my Lord, the Honourable, the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Honourable Justice Kazeem Alogba, who led the entire Lagos State Judiciary to welcome participants in this Conference at the Welcome Cocktail hosted at the premises of the High Court in Ikeja.
7. Finally, I urge everyone here present to relax and partake in the conversations that will go on in this Conference, as I have no doubt that it will be worth your while.
8. I wish you all a very rewarding conference experience.
Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau OON, SAN.
PRESIDENT
