Legal profession must sit up to its responsibilities in 2017 – Etomi
As the year takes off on a good start, key players in the industry continue to give outlooks and offer projections of the year ahead. In this chat with THEODORA KIO-LAWSON, Our Business Lawyer this Week, Pioneer Chair of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL), GEORGE ETOMI, takes a sweeping look at the legal industry in the year gone by and what lies ahead in 2017.
On The Office Of The Attorney General Of The Federation And Minister For Justice
Just last month, the House of Representatives moved to separate the office of Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) from that of Minister of Justice. The move followed the second reading of a Bill for an Act to alter the 1999 Constitution to introduce the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation separate from the Minister of Justice. Regarding this situation, Etomi had this to say:
“In the scheme of things, the office of the attorney general is a professional one and thus, the AG is expected to handle the professional business of the ministry of justice. Guided by law and the facts presented to him, he is expected to look dispassionately at issues. He exercises all the authority about giving fiats for prosecution; deciding who gets prosecuted over issues and who doesn’t, entry of nolle prosequi, and everything else that should be exercised professionally.
On the other hand, the role of the minister of justice is significantly different from that of the attorney general, because as a political appointee, he concerns himself with policy issues and the administration of justice; to allow for general efficacy of the system. He is beholden to the president, and thus his outlook his primarily from this position.
“ The more we depoliticise some offices, the better we can let professional business grow.”
The Big Concern
I think the big concern that has been expressed over the years in Nigeria, is that both offices being fused in one person could become politicised. The general view is that it may be difficult to tell when the action of the minister of justice and the AG is borne out of a political motive or when it is done purely on a professional level.
What practitioners and other stakeholders do not want is a minister who can interfere with the smooth running of the justice system. To clear this doubt, there have been calls for both offices and roles to be separated. These are some of the reasons it is being considered now and I’m not surprised it has gone through the second reading.
“Truth is, the more we depoliticise some offices; the better we can let professional businesses grow. For many of us who practice on the temple of justice, this separation would be a welcome development. On the question, as to whether this will be good for our democracy or not, I am of the opinion that it will.
“Our democracy would only survive if we allow the rule of law to take center stage, and anything that remotely resembles a removal of this rule of law will meet with stiff resistance.
Speaking Of The DSS, NJC debacle late last year, do you think the response of the AGF’s reactions were politically motivated?
“I’m very careful about what I read in the media, I have not heard him say that he gave the go ahead to the DSS, but it’s been reported that he did say that.
What we should be looking at are the consistent statements of many of the senior lawyers on this issue, people who cannot be wished away, like the current President, of the Nigerian Bar Association, former bar presidents, and other senior lawyers like Femi Falana, SAN, and a few others.
“Everyone agreed that the DSS went overboard with its actions. There cannot be any justification for arresting Judges in a Gestapo manner. This mode of arrest for judges is condemnable and should never form part of our legal process.
As judges, the presumption of their innocence is guaranteed under the constitution, and thus, must be given to them. For people who ply their trade in the temple of justice, they are even entitled to the benefit of the doubt.”
What the DSS should have done was to gather sufficient evidence and present same to the National Judicial Council (NJC) or prosecute them directly if a case has been established against them. But raiding the home of a judge in the dead of the night? And seizing all manner of possessions, could even jeopardize the prosecution.
Raiding is clearly not the way we should be going, we should have gone way past this point in our development.
In you opinion, how have all of these impacted the legal profession and the justice system in Nigeria?
And how has it affected the confidence of the people in the system? And, what has been the direct fall out of all of these, generally?
“Well, clearly it’s a very low point in the history of the legal profession, and I’m not going to a blind defence of the profession.
The society expects a lot from us, whether as lawyers or judges, they have put us on a pedestal and we must do everything to earn their confidence. Note that the emphasis here, is on earn. What has happened so far could very well erode it.
Who takes the blame?
Before we go into whether or not there are political undertones to it, let us accept that there’s something wrong with judges who open themselves to these sort of things…And lawyers too, especially senior ones who are also complicit in that,. Let us all take the blame and accept that these practices are a ‘no-no’ for the profession and it must nipped in the bud while we still can.
The role of the Nigerian Bar Association now
The NBA must stand up, and so should other arms of the justice delivery system: The NJC and everyone who is assigned that responsibility would need to clean up this stable.
How to do this
Cleaning up would take two forms.
We can look at the immediate issues, isolate those who have proven cases against them and basically just exclude them from the profession. More importantly, we should take a critical look at the remote causes for these occurrences.
Off the top of my head, one of these would be the method of appointment of judges. It’s been said over and over that there’s something not quite right with the way people get elevated to the bench, because at the end of the day it is once you’re a judge, you’re a potential Chief Justice. And if you get the wrong person in there, it means through your own doing you have basically doomed the profession to having a Chief Judge who cannot answer to the finest tenets of the office, that is the worry that we have.
At this point, we need to ensure that people who are truly deserving make it to the bench and have the potential of becoming the CJ.
Intricacies in the appointment of judges
I understand there are so many things we try to balance in this country. We try to balance regions, geo-political zones, and all manner of things, but what is most important in all of this, is providing a threshold.
There’s should be a threshold that everyone in the profession should strive to achieve before they can even be considered for the bench (to become a judge). If this threshold is achieved, chances are that, before a judge becomes open to suggestions of corruption, it would indeed be a tall order. But if what we find today are weighty political considerations other than merit, then appointment would be only for those beholden the appointing authorities for one reason or the other. It is for this reason (which is in fact not a secret) that many lobby to become judges.
These are some of the things we need to fix now, if any real change is to come to the profession.
Still on the issue of the appointment of judges is the dilemma an origination of the legal profession or more about our value system as a nation?
Yes indeed. It has everything to do with our values as a nation. but you see, no one can drown the voice lawyers in the society.
I entirely I agree with you that it’s a bit more complex, even the system of appointment of judges is too complex in my own opinion. First, you have the state judicial service commission, then the national judicial council then comes the recommendations; then it goes to the governor; and finally he appoints.
Now because and the appointing authority rest with the governor, as well as dismissal, if judge is unwanted for political reasons, then his appointment is dead on arrival whether the NJC recommends or not.
How do we reform these?
This is where the body of lawyers must play a role. You cannot ignore lawyers, especially not with a body like the bar association. All we need do, is say “we can’t continue like this!”
The governor is a politician, so he would ordinarily look for a judge he can rely on but he can get only as far as the legal profession and the bar association allows.
The sad truth however, is that we too have become just as politicised as the other. This is what led to the ongoing crisis in the judiciary.
We must make hay while the sun shines!
Lessons of the past year and hope for the new?
The first lesson of 2016, is this: “If you fail to carry out your responsibilities, someone else (rightly or wrongly) will do it for you…and society will hold you responsible for the failings.
2016 saw us at a point where members of the public were justifying whether the raid by the DSS was right or wrong, and this point, we must admit that something has gone fundamentally wrong! What this means is that we slept on your responsibilities. Let us consider this our first wakeup call and it’s with NJC!
THEODORA KIO-LAWSON