Jibrin Samuel Okutepa SAN, a prominent legal practitioner, emphasized the crucial role of the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) in restoring the integrity of the judiciary and the legal profession in Nigeria. Okutepa SAN urged both bodies to be guided by the interest of the legal profession and the Nigerian society they were established to serve, represent, and protect.
“It is only the NJC and LPDC that can restore the integrity of the judiciary and the legal profession in Nigeria,” Okutepa SAN stated. “In doing so, both bodies must be persuaded by the interest of the legal profession and the Nigerian society that the bodies were set up to serve, represent, and protect. The interest of justice is cardinal, too. Justice does not admit of impurity and impunity. No, it does not.”
Okutepa SAN highlighted the unique position of the legal profession as the only profession with exclusive control over the judicial arm of government, with judges and legal practitioners serving as priests and ministers in the temple of justice. He emphasized that these finest officers of law and justice should be a light in the darkness, scaring away darkness from society.
Commending the recent actions taken by the NJC against judicial officers found guilty of misconduct, Okutepa SAN questioned whether the punishments were sufficient to restore the much-needed sanity and integrity to the judiciary. “NJC must make examples,” he said. “A judge who forges affidavit or any documents to remain on the bench does not deserve to be retired. He or she deserves dismissal and followed up by criminal prosecution.”
Okutepa SAN also called for the removal of judges who issue reckless orders without regard to precedents set by superior courts and urged that all chief judges and heads of courts who cannot provide correct supervision to subordinate judicial officers should be shown the way out.
Quoting his learned friend Tony Iredia Esq, Okutepa SAN emphasized the need for sincerity and clearer guidelines for the federal high court and state high courts to operate for the greater good of the nation. He warned that the current posture of counter orders by these courts would sink the judiciary sooner than later.
Okutepa SAN also stressed the role of the LPDC in disciplining lawyers who file frivolous processes and aid political actors in desecrating the streams of justice. He acknowledged the efforts of the LPDC but emphasized that more needs to be done to address the corrosive damage caused by a few bad eggs in the legal profession.
Citing the concerns of Nigerian citizens who feel that legal practitioners and judicial officers are the root of the country’s problems, Okutepa SAN called for drastic measures to restore public confidence in the purity of the legal profession. “The manner in which we have allowed bad eggs to thrive in the legal profession is corrosively damaging the entire image and prestige of the nobility of the legal profession,” he said. “Something drastic must be done to restore the confidence of the people in the purity of the legal profession. Only the leadership of the bar and the bench can do it.”
The post Okutepa SAN: “Justice Does Not Admit Impurity and Impunity” In Call For Decisive Action From NJC & LPDC appeared first on TheNigeriaLawyer.
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