Posted by By ADESINA AIYEKOTI on
Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), told the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Thursday that it has no moral or legal authority to gag him or any lawyer over his position on the Court of Appeal judgement on the suit involving President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, Atiku Abubakar.
Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), told the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Thursday that it has no moral or legal authority to gag him or any lawyer over his position on the Court of Appeal judgement on the suit involving President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, Atiku Abubakar.
The association had accused Chief Fawehinmi of making 'uncomplimentary remarks on a well considered judgement," which Chief Fawehinmi considered to be 'constitutionally wrong, legally untenable, technically illogical and politically dangerous."
Reacting to the criticism of his view on the judgement, which confirmed Atiku Abubakar as the vice president despite his defection to the Action Congress (AC), Chief Fawehinmi described the reaction of the NBA as 'very amusing, deeply hollow in substance and totally devoid of factional reasons and legal justification."
Chief Fawehinmi contended further: 'The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has no moral or legal authority to gag any lawyer from expressing his or her own view on any issue including criticism of judgements of our courts."
He pointed out to the national officers of the NBA that it is contrary to the principles that led to the establishment of the association of lawyers for it to be truculently intolerant of opposition to its views by any member or members.
Chief Fawehinmi submitted that even the enforcement provisions of the judgement of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and the High Court in Section 287 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 199 do not forbid criticism of the judgements of these courts.
'The recent embarrassing utterances and actions of some national officers of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on issues across the country, particularly in Ekiti, Plateau and Adamawa states depict downright and cowboyish dictatorship, which must be curbed to preserve the integrity of the association," he said.