The Nigerian Bar Association must promote the rule of law
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has elected a new executive. Although there were initial glitches in the online voting, the process was relatively free and fair with minimal acrimony at the end. It is also noteworthy that the new NBA will be led by a recognisable woman, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN. Just as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, president of the Court of Appeal and Director General of the Nigerian Law school are all women of considerable qualification, experience and expertise. We welcome this unintended gender equity development, which perhaps presents an opportunity for the women to lead a moral rebirth of the justice system in Nigeria against the backdrop of previous failures and decline.
While we congratulate the new NBA leadership, we hope that under Badejo-Okusanya, the association will begin to act as the bulwark of social justice and defender of the rule of law and democracy as it was in the past. To rekindle public interest in the association, the new executive must also be open and transparent in words and deeds, especially considering that indiscipline among lawyers has reached an intolerable level. The impunity with which members of the profession now engage in illegal and fraudulent activities has called to question the ability of the Legal Disciplinary Committee of the NBA to sanitise the profession. To return the legal profession to that enviable position it used to be, the association must tackle these challenges.
