The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, expressed his concerns on the behavior of Nigerian lawyers in a recent video on Channels. He accused the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) of neglecting to deal with unethical behavior in the legal field. During a Thursday event, Wike blasted attorneys who comment on cases on media platforms such as Arise TV without having a thorough understanding of the facts, implying that many of them are driven by money.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
“But one of the problems people have not been able to address is that as NBA, you have not solved the problem of preventing lawyers from advertising themselves on channels like Arise,” Wike said. He noted that lawyers often rush to the media to criticize judgments they know little about. “A lawyer who has not even read the facts of the matter will go because they have given him money to go to Arise,” he added.
Wike urged lawyers to act with professionalism, stating that a responsible lawyer would request to see the judgment and the facts of the case before making public statements. “Any decent lawyer anywhere will ask for the judgment or the facts of the matter so that they’ll be able to say something informed,” he said. However, Wike lamented that many lawyers prefer to criticize without adequate knowledge, driven by other interests.
He also accused the NBA of being politically compromised, stating that sponsors influence the association to issue statements on certain judgments without proper investigation. “The NBA has a role to play in securing the independence of the judiciary because it has been polluted politically,” Wike warned, questioning the integrity of lawyers who rush to criticize court rulings.
According to him, “But one of the problems people have not been able to address is that as NBA (Nigerian Bar Association), you have not solved the problem of preventing lawyers from advertising themselves on channels, on Arise. Most lawyers are the ones involved. A lawyer who has not even read the facts of the matter will go because they have given him money to go to Arise.”
“You’re here. You can say whatever you want. Any decent lawyer anywhere, a group lawyer, will ask for the judgment or let me see the facts of the matter so that I’ll be able to say something. But no, they give judgment, and you go and begin to criticize. This and that. That’s why NBA has a role to play in securing the independence of the judiciary because NBA has been polluted politically.”
“Those who sponsor them will tell you to issue a statement on this judgment. Did you read the judgment? Since they have published the judgment in newspapers, has anybody come to talk about it again?”CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
Watch the video from 19 minutes 26 seconds
