The newly elected President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud yesterday fired warning signals to the Federal Government with a vow to resist any form of disobedience to court orders.
Speaking at his first press conference, Mahmud vowed that the NBA, under his watch will not tolerate disobedience of orders of the court.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) noted that the key requirement to the rule of law is obedience to orders of the court, adding that, “Any government that does not do so is going against the rule of law”.
While calling for proper funding and independence of the judiciary, the NBA president said the present state of affairs, in which other sectors are given more attention than the justice sector should be reversed.
It was his submission that the judiciary must enjoy true financial autonomy and a full self-accounting status, adding that, “the funds of the judiciary should be released to it as soon as same is approved in the budgets of the federal and state governments”.
He called for an improvement in the personal emoluments of judicial officers, together with their conditions of service, saying that an independent and self-accounting judiciary is important for preserving the rule of law, good governance and economic development.
Mahmoud reminded the federal government that it is only the existence of a virile, fearless and we’ll funded independent judiciary that can guarantee an enduring democratic government and maintenance of law and order.
Mahmoud said the NBA shall put mechanisms in place to monitor acts of impunity that fly in the face of the rule of law and demanded that government should address cases of infractions and also hold those responsible for such violations accountable, irrespective of their status in the society.
He said he will run an administration based on the core values of integrity and ethical lawyering and that every lawyer shall be subjected to ethical scrutiny and all those with integrity deficit shall be exposed and brought to justice.
“We shall not condone a situation where the unprofessional attitude of some of our members will conterminate our noble profession”, he said and said his vision is that of a brave new Bar, driven by the knowledge and skills of its members as a veritable agent for national transformation.
He said he is worried that so much effort has been put into the reform of the justice sector, without a concrete impact of such initiatives. He said there have been many talk shops, plethora of such recommendations and promises but the state of the sector is on the decline.
The NBA president elect said the present legal and institutional framework put in place for anti corruption crusade is defective in structure and substance.
“The current anti-corruption crusade seems to be much more focused on fighting corruption after it has occurred, but not much attention is paid to preventive measures with a view to minimising the incidence of corruption”, he said.
Mahmoud said, to successfully and substantially reduce or eradicate corruption, the legal framework, systems and initiatives for investigation and prosecution, education against corruption must be robust and effective.