Are Nigerian Lawyers Still Members Of A Noble Profession?

By Agbada S. Agbada

The legal profession is often touted by lawyers as the only
noble profession. We pride ourselves as a refined breed of
professionals who are not only educated but ‘learned’. As a matter
of fact, we claim exclusivity to learnedness. This self-adulation
imbues in us a sense of importance and sometimes inspires both awe
and envy from other professionals.

Aspirants to the profession are also sometimes attracted to the
profession by the appearance of nobility and the fundamental role
of lawyers in society. But are Nigerian lawyers still members of a
noble profession? The answer to this question will depend largely
on the conduct of Nigerian lawyers in society and whether such
conduct is deserving of being considered noble.

Honour comes with responsibility and as the common aphorism
goes, to whom much is given, much is expected. Nobility is not a
mere appellation or cream to oil one’s ego. It entails
corresponding responsibilities and standards of behaviour. To be
considered members of a noble profession, lawyers must themselves
exude traits of nobility. Lawyers must be alive to their
responsibilities in society. In the words of Christopher Sapara
Williams of blessed memory “A Lawyer lives for the direction of
his people and the advancement of the cause of his country.”
Such is the responsibility on lawyers.

We are expected to be the lodestar of moral standards and due
process. At critical junctures in our national life, lawyers ought
to provide direction through dispassionate views and courageous,
exemplary stands. When the fabric of society comes under the
crushing weight of impunity, lawyers are expected to act as
sentinels. In the battle between the powerful and the weak and
defenceless, lawyers are expected to provide strength for the weak.
Lawyers ought to inveigh against the vices of corruption,
oppression, abuse of the rule and like vices perpetrated by those
in power and exalted positions with consistency. We are indeed,
supposed to be a profession that advances and defends social
ideals. We are unconsciously elevated to a leadership position by
society and we ought to show leadership. But we have been
failing.

In other climes, lawyers have courageously taken on the behemoth
of dictatorship with astonishing results. In Pakistan for example,
the unconstitutional suspension of the country’s Chief Justice,
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry by President Pervez Musharraf in March
2007 resulted in months of protests by Pakistani lawyers who rose
in stout defence of the Chief Justice. They sustained the protests
for months until Musharraf caved and reinstated the Chief Justice.
They rightly interpreted the unconstitutional suspension as an
assault on the independence of the judiciary and fought this
encroachment forthrightly. To them, their loyalty to the judiciary
trumped any other primordial consideration.

Over here, lawyers enabled President Buhari to
unconstitutionally suspend and consequently remove Justice Walter
Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria in 2019 via an ex parte
order procured from the Code of Conduct Tribunal. A lot of lawyers
did not see the grievous effect of such brazen show of power on the
independence of the Judiciary and the administration of justice.
Some eminent Senior Advocates of Nigeria were so overwhelmed by the
rot in the judiciary that as noble men and women, they could not
even comment on the illegality of the removal in their
intervention. Such unconstitutional acts of the Executive could not
bother them. They were so patronizing in their reaction that their
implicit support for the removal could barely be veiled by their
expression of neutrality. Again, when Mr. Paul Usoro SAN called for
a boycott of the courts in protest, some senior lawyers and some
branches of the NBA openly defied him. The reaction of lawyers was
generally feeble and polarized. In the end, the Executive got away
with this incursion without any repercussion.  This is just
one instance when our reaction to a national issue of fundamental
importance and serious ramifications fell far short of our exalted
position. But it would neither be the first nor the last.

In recent times, we have seen several developments that cast
lawyers in ignoble light. From the open defence of Governor Wike’s
brazen disregard for due process in his demolition of landed
property in the guise of enforcing COVID-19 restrictions, the
protests by Muslim lawyers against the cancellation of Governor
El-rufai’s invitation as a panelist at the 2020 Annual General
Conference of the NBA, the subversion of due process by the
Attorney-General of the Federation in his purported amendment of
the Rules of Professional Conduct and the reaction of some senior
lawyers in their veiled attempts to defend the lawlessness, to the
desperation of some lawyers to ensure the execution of a young man
convicted of blasphemy in Kano have all exposed lawyers to
ridicule. Some lawyers were so miffed by the cancellation of
El-rufai’s invitation that they have threatened to pull down the
NBA. This set of lawyers have conveniently converted a decision
that was predicated solely on El-rufai’s unrelenting assault on the
rule of law and his management of the security situation in
Southern Kaduna into an ethno-religious affair. Rule of law and
good governance which formed the basis of the decision to cancel
the invitation are of less importance than the desire to be seen as
good kinsmen. They have become ethnic and religious warriors and
now want a New NBA to assure them of a platform to express an
unfettered observance of religious doctrines and ethnic solidarity.
But I thought lawyers are ministers in the temple of justice and
not ethnic and religious warriors. I guess they now have a higher
calling.

But the problem was not just about the ethnic and religious
warriors who came out with their swords and daggers in defence of a
kinsman accused of undermining the rule of law. It was also about
those lawyers who went purely ad hominem in their reactions to
those who protested the cancellation of the invitation. There was
little room for logical, civil and professional conversation on the
issue. It was rather common to see words as Boko Haram, Bandit,
Aboki and such other derogatory terms being used by lawyers to
describe their professional colleagues.  What image are we
really portraying to those outside the profession? Can we not
disagree and even argue with some decorum? Where is the nobility of
the legal profession?

Again, not only lawyers from one section of the country are
under the shackles of ethnicity and religion. Those who defended
Wike’s impunity were also predominantly from Wike’s end of the
country. This set of lawyers go about with the “na our own”
mentality in their reactions to issues. They are so yoked by
ethnicity and religion that their responsibility to give direction
to society on critical issues has become secondary. It is now
common to see nonlawyers making more logical arguments on legal
issues than some lawyers because we now have lawyers who abandon
their knowledge of the law on public issues in a bid to be their
brother’s keepers.

We have been conducting ourselves in a manner that questions our
nobility and learnedness. The legal profession without lawyers is a
mere abstraction and it is the quality of minds comprising the
legal profession that will determine the respect that is befitting
of the profession. We cannot pride ourselves as members of a noble
profession without embodying and exuding an aura of nobility. At
the moment, the rhetoric of nobility is completely negatived by the
sometimes aberrant nature of our conducts. If we truly are still
members of a noble profession, our nobility should be seen, not
just mouthed.

Written By By Agbada S. Agbada

By Agbada S. Agbada

The legal profession is often touted by lawyers as the only
noble profession. We pride ourselves as a refined breed of
professionals who are not only educated but ‘learned’. As a matter
of fact, we claim exclusivity to learnedness. This self-adulation
imbues in us a sense of importance and sometimes inspires both awe
and envy from other professionals.

Aspirants to the profession are also sometimes attracted to the
profession by the appearance of nobility and the fundamental role
of lawyers in society. But are Nigerian lawyers still members of a
noble profession? The answer to this question will depend largely
on the conduct of Nigerian lawyers in society and whether such
conduct is deserving of being considered noble.

Honour comes with responsibility and as the common aphorism
goes, to whom much is given, much is expected. Nobility is not a
mere appellation or cream to oil one’s ego. It entails
corresponding responsibilities and standards of behaviour. To be
considered members of a noble profession, lawyers must themselves
exude traits of nobility. Lawyers must be alive to their
responsibilities in society. In the words of Christopher Sapara
Williams of blessed memory “A Lawyer lives for the direction of
his people and the advancement of the cause of his country.”
Such is the responsibility on lawyers.

We are expected to be the lodestar of moral standards and due
process. At critical junctures in our national life, lawyers ought
to provide direction through dispassionate views and courageous,
exemplary stands. When the fabric of society comes under the
crushing weight of impunity, lawyers are expected to act as
sentinels. In the battle between the powerful and the weak and
defenceless, lawyers are expected to provide strength for the weak.
Lawyers ought to inveigh against the vices of corruption,
oppression, abuse of the rule and like vices perpetrated by those
in power and exalted positions with consistency. We are indeed,
supposed to be a profession that advances and defends social
ideals. We are unconsciously elevated to a leadership position by
society and we ought to show leadership. But we have been
failing.

In other climes, lawyers have courageously taken on the behemoth
of dictatorship with astonishing results. In Pakistan for example,
the unconstitutional suspension of the country’s Chief Justice,
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry by President Pervez Musharraf in March
2007 resulted in months of protests by Pakistani lawyers who rose
in stout defence of the Chief Justice. They sustained the protests
for months until Musharraf caved and reinstated the Chief Justice.
They rightly interpreted the unconstitutional suspension as an
assault on the independence of the judiciary and fought this
encroachment forthrightly. To them, their loyalty to the judiciary
trumped any other primordial consideration.

Over here, lawyers enabled President Buhari to
unconstitutionally suspend and consequently remove Justice Walter
Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria in 2019 via an ex parte
order procured from the Code of Conduct Tribunal. A lot of lawyers
did not see the grievous effect of such brazen show of power on the
independence of the Judiciary and the administration of justice.
Some eminent Senior Advocates of Nigeria were so overwhelmed by the
rot in the judiciary that as noble men and women, they could not
even comment on the illegality of the removal in their
intervention. Such unconstitutional acts of the Executive could not
bother them. They were so patronizing in their reaction that their
implicit support for the removal could barely be veiled by their
expression of neutrality. Again, when Mr. Paul Usoro SAN called for
a boycott of the courts in protest, some senior lawyers and some
branches of the NBA openly defied him. The reaction of lawyers was
generally feeble and polarized. In the end, the Executive got away
with this incursion without any repercussion.  This is just
one instance when our reaction to a national issue of fundamental
importance and serious ramifications fell far short of our exalted
position. But it would neither be the first nor the last.

In recent times, we have seen several developments that cast
lawyers in ignoble light. From the open defence of Governor Wike’s
brazen disregard for due process in his demolition of landed
property in the guise of enforcing COVID-19 restrictions, the
protests by Muslim lawyers against the cancellation of Governor
El-rufai’s invitation as a panelist at the 2020 Annual General
Conference of the NBA, the subversion of due process by the
Attorney-General of the Federation in his purported amendment of
the Rules of Professional Conduct and the reaction of some senior
lawyers in their veiled attempts to defend the lawlessness, to the
desperation of some lawyers to ensure the execution of a young man
convicted of blasphemy in Kano have all exposed lawyers to
ridicule. Some lawyers were so miffed by the cancellation of
El-rufai’s invitation that they have threatened to pull down the
NBA. This set of lawyers have conveniently converted a decision
that was predicated solely on El-rufai’s unrelenting assault on the
rule of law and his management of the security situation in
Southern Kaduna into an ethno-religious affair. Rule of law and
good governance which formed the basis of the decision to cancel
the invitation are of less importance than the desire to be seen as
good kinsmen. They have become ethnic and religious warriors and
now want a New NBA to assure them of a platform to express an
unfettered observance of religious doctrines and ethnic solidarity.
But I thought lawyers are ministers in the temple of justice and
not ethnic and religious warriors. I guess they now have a higher
calling.

But the problem was not just about the ethnic and religious
warriors who came out with their swords and daggers in defence of a
kinsman accused of undermining the rule of law. It was also about
those lawyers who went purely ad hominem in their reactions to
those who protested the cancellation of the invitation. There was
little room for logical, civil and professional conversation on the
issue. It was rather common to see words as Boko Haram, Bandit,
Aboki and such other derogatory terms being used by lawyers to
describe their professional colleagues.  What image are we
really portraying to those outside the profession? Can we not
disagree and even argue with some decorum? Where is the nobility of
the legal profession?

Again, not only lawyers from one section of the country are
under the shackles of ethnicity and religion. Those who defended
Wike’s impunity were also predominantly from Wike’s end of the
country. This set of lawyers go about with the “na our own”
mentality in their reactions to issues. They are so yoked by
ethnicity and religion that their responsibility to give direction
to society on critical issues has become secondary. It is now
common to see nonlawyers making more logical arguments on legal
issues than some lawyers because we now have lawyers who abandon
their knowledge of the law on public issues in a bid to be their
brother’s keepers.

We have been conducting ourselves in a manner that questions our
nobility and learnedness. The legal profession without lawyers is a
mere abstraction and it is the quality of minds comprising the
legal profession that will determine the respect that is befitting
of the profession. We cannot pride ourselves as members of a noble
profession without embodying and exuding an aura of nobility. At
the moment, the rhetoric of nobility is completely negatived by the
sometimes aberrant nature of our conducts. If we truly are still
members of a noble profession, our nobility should be seen, not
just mouthed.

Written By By Agbada S. Agbada