Indiscipline may ruin legal profession – Edo NBA chief
By TONY OSAUZO, Benin
Wednesday, September 15, 2004

The law profession is regarded as a noble profession. So, its members who are “learned” usually guard it to ensure that it is not infiltrated by those who do not have what it takes to be in the profession.

But like everything, the Nigeria factor has crept into the noble profession where criminals are now lawyers, just as many lawyers nowadays cannot speak English.
The problem is bothering Barrister Pat Onegbedan, Edo State Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Ombudsman, who catalogued some of the crimes some lawyers engage in.

“They steal clients’ money. They write will and transfer the testator’s property to themselves. If you go to the police station, you will be amazed that lawyers are being detained for crimes that you will never believe or would never have happened in this country. That is the reflection of the larger society,” Onegbedan told Daily Sun during an interview in Benin.

Disclosing that a member of the state bar association has been barred from legal practice for four years as a result of his engagement in unprofessional conduct, the Edo NBA Ombudsman says plans are on to toughen admission requirements for candidates interested in reading Law, even as he advocates that those interested in becoming lawyers should obtain first degree in other disciplines before coming to read Law in order to enhance the quality of new entrants into the profession.

Barrister Onegbedan also commented on Nigeria’s politics and says as far as he was concerned Nigeria was not practising democracy. “There is no democracy being practised in Nigeria right now. What we have right now is a system of selection capped up by election rigging. So, there is no democracy,” he said.

A believer in divine intervention in the affairs of men, Barrister Onegbedan says some persons seriously jostling to contest for elective positions will not be there, come 2007.
According to him, “when nature intervenes there is no amour against it. That is what happens and it will intervene,” he stressed.

Gatekeepers of the legal profession
The gate keepers are just now beginning to realize that the problem is getting close to consuming the profession and steps are now being taken. The disciplinary processes before were far from being unrealistic, but now, the NBA is taking steps to come out with series of laws at various levels to empower not just at the national level but also state branches to sanction and discipline erring lawyers.
At the state level, which I am the Chairman (Disciplinary Committee) here, we could only make recommendations to the national body. It takes three, four years for anything to come out. And so, it encourages these bad things to continue.
By the time we look at the rules and regulations and the power to discipline is decentralized, we might be able to get somewhere.

In fact, now we are beginning to look at the quality of children to be admitted into law faculties. It starts from there. Nurses, teachers and traders everybody ends up in the law faculty and they pass. They make a second-class lower grade. They can’t speak English. Now we are beginning to find a way to make it more difficult for many of them to enter this place. Admission will be restricted. The requirements will be stiffened. We will get somewhere but right now the problem is large, it’s enormous.

Yes, I am a proponent of law as a second degree. It actually brings in maturity. If you see some of them who really have done that on their own voluntarily, they are more matured. It’s a job that should be done really by matured persons. It’s also a reflection of the wig we wear. When you see a white wig, it is a symbol of wisdom and age. That’s what the white wig reflects – symbol of wisdom and age. So, law as a second degree will be ideal.

Sanction of lawyers
We had one that I heard even on network news of the NTA recently. I don’t have to mention the lawyer’s name. He has been debarred for, I think four years. That’s one example.’ I tell you, we’ve been on for years.

At the local level here, the young man, knowing that the process was slow, was even obstinate. He was very very obstinate. He didn’t even show remorse. In fact, he was prepared to even commit more crimes and do all those things. But now the hammer has fallen on him. It had had effect. People now say this thing can be real. That’s what we are talking about. So, by the time such power is decentralized, we would get somewhere.

Democracy and the rule of law
Democracy as we know it from the days of the philosophers, is that philosophers should be the rulers or the rulers become philosophers. You don’t expect that in this country in another 1,000 years.
So, when people who are selected or rigged to be there have no business being there, they can’t give the leadership that can bring good things in our environment. They don’t understand nature, they don’t understand the obligation they owe to nature and God in the power they seek. So, there’s no democracy. In fact, it’s a misnomer to talk of democracy in Nigeria. It doesn’t exist for now.