Olakunle Edun few months after his election
into the office of the National Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian
Bar Association has been very active and vocal in matters that are
of paramount to lawyers.
In this interview with TheNigerialawyer(TNL), Kunle expresses
his views on several contemporary issues ranging
from incessant brutality of lawyers by law enforcement
agencies, NBA collaboration with relevant local and international
human rights organizations/agencies on the human rights abuses,
EFCC interfering with lawyers’ fees and so many other pressing
issues.
In respect of brutality of Law Enforcement Agencies to
lawyers, and with the recent assault involving a lawyer and a
female official of the Federal Road Safety Commission in mind, what
is your advice to lawyers?
It is true that the friction between security agents and lawyers
have increased lately. This may not be unconnected with the hard
stand of the present NBA administration against lack of
respect for human rights and rule of law by security agencies. The
NBA shall not shirk in its responsibilities to always protect the
rights of Nigerians and will never support the suppression of human
rights.
Lawyers are honorable and noble by training. We cannot condescend
to the bestial level of some security agencies. We must remain calm
and apply wisdom when confronted menacingly by security agents. Our
weapon is the law and we must use it effectively. It is always a
better option.
Inspite of all the assaults and harassments inflicted on late
Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN by Security agents, he was never reported
to have fought or got himself involved in any violent fracas. His
humility and resort to using the weapon of the law whenever
his rights were being trampled upon eventually made him a hero and
the government security agencies, ended up as villains.
Regarding the recent incident involving one of our
colleagues with some officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps, I
would say that it is most unfortunate. The colleague in question
has been confirmed to be a humble, unassuming and peaceful
person. Without prejudging the merit of the case, I urge FRSC to
properly train its officers whenever they are doing their road
work. I personally see the act of the officers seen in fistcuff as
an image disaster.
I have had cause to question the rationale of security agents
including FRSC officials setting up barricade or constituting
themselves into human road blocks. FRSC officials are not supposed
to be in the middle of a road stopping vehicles. There is no
law that allows such unsafe act. They ought to be doing more of
patrols and should stop standing in the busy of the roads. I do not
know what motivates them to always do this but certainly it cannot
be for lawful purpose.
The NBA is in liaison with the Chairman of Aguata branch
and I understand that some legal actions have been initiated by our
colleague.
NBA pledges to collaborate with relevant local and
international human rights organizations/agencies on the issue of
human lives and stemming, human rights abuses. what step has NBA
taken so far?
The motto of the NBA is promoting the Rule of Law and an
essential component of rule of law is the respect for human rights.
The NBA has consistently engaged relevant players in the human
rights community and the synergies have been productive. We
constantly engage the Executive Secretary of the National Human
Rights Commission, NGOs on better and new approaches in our fight
against abuse of human rights. We are firming up collaborative
effort with the office of the Inspector General of Police on
improvement of lawyers/police relationship and reduce frictions. We
intend to also engage the Nigerian Prison too. The McArthur
Foundation has also been very helpful in this cause, particularly
on assistance to IDPs and sponsorship of various seminars
and enlightenment programmes on human rights. We are
also reaching out to more international partners and the responses
are encouraging.
NEC has given an approval for the Constitution of new
Executive committee for Young Lawyers Forum, when do we expect the
new YLF committee to be constituted and are there requirements for
selection?
The YLF Committee is one of the Committees that the NBA President
takes special interest in, because of his promise to institute a
proper mentoring programme for the younger lawyers. The President
shall decide the best approach in constituting the membership of
the Committee. However, be rest assured that wide consultations
will be made with stakeholders and every person that will be part
of the Committee will be there based on merit.
With the vexed issue of EFCC interfering with lawyers’
fees, what step has NBA taken or intends to take to protect
lawyers? And is there concomitant advice to lawyers on the need to
investigate the source of the fees they collect?
Let me tell you straight away. The NBA shall resist every
attempt to make lawyers do the jobs for which security agencies
have been employed to do. As much as a lawyer believes that he has
been paid for the services lawfully carried out by him and he plays
no role in sourcing of the funds from which his fees were paid, I
do not think it is incumbent on any lawyer to be asking his client
to divulge the source of his or her fees. The NBA National
Executive Committee at its last Quarterly Meeting categorically
rejected this incursion and further action are being considered to
protect lawyers in the course of performing their professional
duties.
Recall that earlier some obnoxious provisions in the Money
Laundering Act which sought to compel law firms to
be reporting lodgments in their accounts were struck down by
the courts as an unlawful interference into lawyers’ privileges and
confidentiality with their clients.
The NBA is willing to collaborate with security agencies but
such collaboration must be on the basis of respect for rule of
law and individual liberties as enshrined in the Nigerian
Constitution. The Nigerian Police, EFCC, SSS and there enforcement
agencies are all creation of statutes and therefore must not
be above the laws setting them up and the Constitution of
Nigeria.
What is the NBA doing to avert the action by the
Executive arm of the Government to unwittingly take the
responsibility of the NJC by appointing Judicial
officers.
I recall that during the Austin Alegeh, SAN’s administration. NEC
members were urged by the then NBA President to forward complaint
of any irregular judicial appointment to the NBA President, who
promised to intervene by bringing it to the attention of the NJC or
relevant authorities. I urge NEC members to still do same. The NBA
President is ever ready to act on such complaints of executive
interference in judicial functions. The present
administration will not encourage any attempt by the Executive arm
of government to dictate, influence or take over the constitutional
roles of States’ Judicial Service Commissions or the NJC. It is a
threat to rule of law and Independence of the Judiciary. A bigger
problem such unlawful interference causes is that the people
lose confidence in the judiciary knowing very well that a
particular Judge was an appointee of a Governor or Federal
Minister. The NBA will ensure that the people’s confidence in the
Judiciary is not eroded. You know if it does, it sure has a way of
impacting negatively on our jobs as lawyers. However, the NBA is
fully assured of the power and competence of the National
Judicial Commission to always protect the Independence of the
Judiciary.
There have been several incidences recorded about the
incessant killings of lawyers, what do you think is the cause of
this?
It is most unfortunate and painful that we lost some of our dear
colleagues as a result of violent crimes. This administration
is a caring administration and would always be with the bereaved
families in their times of need. It is in view of this that the NBA
Welfare insurance scheme is being looked into for the purpose of
reviving it .
Insecurity in the land is as a manifestation of the
failure of our security agencies to protect lives and properties of
Nigerians. Any Government that cannot protect lives and properties
of its citizen is a failed Government and a breach of the social
contract that Nigerians entered with them. Rather than police doing
more of street patrols, they prefer assigning Policemen to protect
politicians and setting up road blocks everywhere. For crying out
loud this is the 21st century. Our investigation system is still
grossly analogue. Forensics play no measure role. It is only in
Nigeria that a State Governor would be having 20 armed
Policemen attached to him, just one person but they find it
difficult to pay N30, 000 as minimum wage. If a leader is truly
sincere and honest he does not need such heavy security around
him.
I also see the over-centralisation of the Policing system as
another major problem. In the 21st century and in an increasingly
populated country like Nigeria, policing Should be
everyone’s business. I am yet to understand why the office
of the Inspector General of Police should
be investigating a case of land, assault or theft
emanating from a town in a State. That office should be
dealing more with crimes that affect federal institutions like what
the FBI does. The policing system in Nigeria is certainly not
working.
The NBA works through it’s Sections and Committees. Recently,
the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL)
held a conference where the discussion was on the Policing system.
The NBA will continue to escalate the fault lines in our security
system for the relevant authorities to address them.
How effective is the NBA Human Rights
committee?
Constitutionally, the 1st Vice President of the NBA is the Chairman
of the NBA Human Right Committee. At the last NEC Meeting, the
President informed NEC of his intention to constitute the
Committee, amongst other Committees, and it was approved. The
members of the Committee will be announced soon and upon
inauguration, the Committee will strengthen on-going efforts in the
human rights space.
What role can the NBA play in seeking justice in the Ochanaya
case?
The NBA is collaborating with the local NBA branch on this case
and monitoring the trial as it progresses. The NBA shall ensure
that justice is done at the end. The NBA in conjunction with other
NGOs, has already taken a stand against child rape and other sexual
harassment cases by constituting pro bono network of lawyers to
provide free legal services for such victims.
What’s your take on the attempts to criminalize lawyers’
fees?
The criminalization of lawyer’s fees is an admission by the
security agencies that they have abdicated their responsibility of
investigating crimes. Lawyers will not do their jobs for them. I
know of no lawyer that will get involved in knowingly stealing
public funds in the name of fees. For crying out loud, except
there is a clear evidence that the lawyer personally partook in the
sourcing of the fees from the public source, he has no business
asking his client where he got the money from. Would a medical
doctor ask his patient the source from which he paid his medical
bills or would a hotel manager ask a lodger where he got the money
from which he paid his lodging bill? Should lawyers defending
persons charged with corruption or robbery be asking them the
source from which they paid the legal fees?
Lawyers should not bear responsibilities that is not theirs. It
will set a very bad precedent and intrude into our privileges and
confidentiality with our clients.
Are you in support of the sponsoring of the conferences
by prosecutorial agencies for judges? Give reasons.
When a Judge is sponsored by EFCC to attend a conference (which
seems to be the norm now) lodging and traveling expenses are fully
paid by EFCC. Estacode that runs into hundreds of thousands of
naira (if it is an international conference, dollars) will be paid
by EFCC. The NBA or any member of the bar is not invited or
also sponsored to balance the equation. Probably, the only
participants would be the Judges, EFCC officials and the resource
persons. ICPC does it too. Of course there would be alot of
interactions amongst the participants.
Now Mr. A, knowing all these facts, appears before such a Judge
to answer to a charge filed by EFCC or ICPC. Do you think a
reasonable man will expect Mr A to get a fair trial?
The NBA National Executive Committee at it’s last meeting condemned
this new trend as it may tend to erode the Independence and
impartiality of such judges. This is another form of undue
interference by an agency of the Executive arm into the affairs of
the Judiciary. EFCC is not a donor agency and we are not told if
such expenses have budgetary approvals. I think it is high time
that some of their activities should also be investigated so that
they can be seen to be above board.
What’s your assessment of the 2018/2019 Q1 Financial
Statement?
The policy thrusts of the present administration are
transparency and accountability. Since we assumed office, all the
activities of the NBA are published almost on daily basis to all
members of the bar. We believe that it is the right of members to
know how the Association is being managed. The NBA President
promised Quarterly publication of the financial statements. We have
even done more than that by also publishing a diagnostic report of
our finances. Our books are now open to all. This is a first
and unprecedented.
The present administration wants to entrench the practice of
regular publication of our financials into the NBA system so that
it will not stop after the end of our tenure. We have also engaged
in cost savings measures, which would be better captured in
subsequent reports. A new cost saving measure is the stoppage of
the continuous printing of NEC members’ tags. It was announced at
the last NEC that NEC members’ tags would only be printed once
during our tenure since NEC membership is just for two years.
Therefore, NEC members would continue to use the same tags for the
period of their membership of NEC.
What do you think is different from the NEC meeting held
before and the first one under the PAUL USORO led
administration?*
It is not our intention to compete with any previous
administrations. All of them did their best. The present
administration intends to run on its own record. The publication of
quarterly financial reports is unprecedented for two reasons: the
financial reports were published for all members of the bar to
see (not only NEC members) and they were published ahead of the NEC
Meeting so that members can read and understand them very well
before the meeting date and make quality contributions.
Also, for the first time in the history of holding NEC meetings,
we did away with papers and the usual NEC bundles. This is a huge
cost saving measure and moreso, we are now in the e- world where
Conference papers are now sent online to participants. With the
free WiFi facilities provided by the NBA and NEC members following
discussions on their laptops, iPads and Androids, the last NEC
meeting that was held at the NBA house, Abuja on the 6th of
December, 2018 was a great success. The last NEC meeting was also
business-like and devoid of much ceremonies. It was strictly for
NBA business.
Should members be expecting any further innovation
soon?
Yes, there are many coming but the one that will be implemented
soon is the shift from teller based payment system to online
payment system for all NBA related payments which would include
practising fees, stamps and seal fees, purchase of NBA branded
products . We are also going to integrate into the NBA portal all
the NBA branches so that branch members can also pay their local
dues and other branch levies online into the branches designated
accounts on the portal. The NBA National Secretariat does not
control the branch accounts. Our duty is just to create an enabling
platform for use by the branches. The funds paid into the branches
accounts can only be accessed by the branch signatories.
With this new payment system, e- receipts will replace tellers.
Receipts would be more secured and will never get lost as members
can easily access the portal to print their receipts. This is part
of the revamp of the NBA website.
You were elected the NBA Publicity Secretary, can you
tell us your challenges so far since you mounted this
office?
Challenges? I guess image makers are always in the eye of the
public. It has not been easy. Serving the NBA is a privilege and
one ought to consider the advice and comments from members in good
faith. That is the feedback mechanism that we have entrenched in
the present administration. This is a listening administration. I
am not a perfect being but will continue to do my best at all times
for the greater good of the NBA. So far I have had the cooperation
of members of the bar, particularly senior colleagues who
personally call me to give me words of encouragement and advice.
Above all, I am lucky to have an able assistant, Akorede Habeeb
Lawal. I wish all our members a happy and prosperous 2019.