Afam Osigwe Must Unite The Bar Now, Lead From The Front, Says Ojogbane

• Encourages Osigwe To Investigate LPPC’s Activities*

Mr. Jonson Ojogbane, Lead Counsel and Senior Partner at Signature Law Firm has outlined some major tasks that the newly elected President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, must immediately address to restore unity to the Bar, which has struggled with cohesion and credibility in recent years.

Addressing the issue of discontent within the Bar, including the formation of the Law Society of Nigeria (LSN) and the SPIDEL scandal, Ojogbane, speaking over the weekend from his Abuja office, said: “My advice to him is to call an urgent meeting with all of the branch chairmen and secretaries from the associations across the country.

“A seniority-based conference; to sit down and woo everyone back to this fold. I do not think it is in our best interests to break up the Bar as it is right now. The trouble we have had in the Bar, in my opinion, is not enough to break it up right now. We are better together. Our voices will be stronger. The NBA has a role to play in shaping national policy.

“There is so much suffering in this land. Fuel and food prices have risen, and people are suffering. Should the NBA sit on the fence and say, “Oh, we are just lawyers; we will not do anything?” No! We have a role to play because we are one of the most widely heard voices in the country today.”

Speaking on indiscipline within the Bar and the Bench, Ojogbane expressed confidence in the Bar President’s ability to restore dignity to the Bar and positively impact the Bench.

“I am completely confident in his ability to navigate the Nigerian judicial process, both the Bar and the Bench and produce a more constructive development for the Bar. We have a problem with conflicting court decisions across the country, particularly in political cases and election petitions.

“People do what we call forum shopping. People go to one court and obtain an order. Another goes to another court to obtain an order. Sometimes we blame politicians and wonder why they are running around. The question is, “Who is taking the cases to court for them?” We are lawyers.

“One lawyer receives an order from court A; the other goes to court B and receives another order on the same set of facts and issues.” So I am hoping that Afam Osigwe, SAN, will use his Bar experience and goodwill to benefit lawyers at all levels, including senior, middle and young lawyers. I hope he will engage with the lawyers – those of us who are already very senior lawyers, as well as the intermediate and junior ones – to encourage lawyers to work for the benefit of the association rather than personal gain.

“Lawyers are the ones who take these cases to different courts and obtain conflicting verdicts. I hope that Afam Osigwe, SAN, will be able to navigate what is in the best interests of lawyers in terms of compensation for their professional advice based on services and the public interest.

“We can not continue like this. We cannot receive judgements as if we were going to the market to buy yam from Wuse and another from Utako. No, we cannot go on like this. There must be some level of decorum among lawyers; a level of discipline that states that if a court has issued an order based on a specific set of facts, a lawyer has the option of either applying for that order to be overturned or appealing to a higher court to take a different look at the case rather than going and getting an order and then going and getting my own.

“What about the judiciary itself, who are issuing these orders? Lawyers struggle to appear in these courts, and judges struggle to hear these cases. Someone goes to the Federal High Court in Abuja to get an order, and another person goes to the FCT High Court, which is a court of coordinated jurisdiction.

“I hope Afam Osigwe can navigate these processes and change the narrative. Engage with the judiciary at the highest levels, including the NJC, the Office of the CJN, and the Offices of the Chief Judges in each state, and consider a re-orientation. If the judiciary continues to issue conflicting orders while lawyers continue to support the process, the system will fail. My advice to the Learnt Silk is to make this a top priority because what it is doing to the judiciary and the Bar is damaging the system.

“And, in terms of undermining the system, I told the Learnt Silk at the Bar conference that, in the future, he should form a committee to collaborate with the Bar and the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC).

The discipline in the legal profession is deteriorating; we are not saying it is completely ruined, but we can do more to be more disciplined than this.

“Is there any case in which you can say, for the sake of my integrity, I will not be involved? For example, consider corruption cases. There are ongoing regulations, including a new anti-money laundering law that requires lawyers to report to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML). The Control Unit is responsible for issuing certificates to lawyers. These have sparked numerous debates, but in the context of legal operations, these regulations have served as a guide for lawyers, indicating the limits to which they can go.

“You can not do these things, but guess what? Many lawyers do not even know the rules. They are not even sure what their limit is. What is your relationship with your client? When do you separate yourself from confidentiality? If a crime is committed, will you tell your client that you will keep their information confidential? If your client is about to commit a crime, will you sit back, collect your fees, and act as if nothing has happened? Lawyers do not live in another world. They share the same society. So we can not sit on the fence and expect things to change while we do not change.

“So, I hope that the Learnt Silk, Mazi Afam Osigwe SAN, will be able to use his wealth of experience to promote further education among lawyers. There are certain things you cannot afford to do. We cannot take certain steps. We have got moral issues. We have even religious issues. We have certain societal expectations. When I was growing up under the then-director of the Nigerian Law School, Ibironke, lawyers were the most respected people in every community. If you say something in your neighbourhood, at a resident association meeting, or even a tenant meeting, people listen because they believe lawyers know what to do.

“Lawyers should understand what is wrong and what is correct. We cannot take every case. We can not ask for every order, which is why, due to a lack of discipline among lawyers, there are cases of fake lawyers popping up all over the place. During our conversation, I told the NBA President that the issue of fake lawyers needed to be taken seriously. If we are a compact unit, if we work as a team, and if we do not leave an opening, these people will be unable to simply step in and begin doing their jobs.

“Osigwe should contribute more and make a difference. There are disciplinary issues among lawyers. For example, is not it about time we brought the issue of conflicting court orders before the disciplinary committee? Lawyers take money from clients while failing to deliver on their promises. In the United States, this is referred to as malpractice, and you may be sued, fined, derobed, or have your licence revoked.

“I would also advise him to look more closely at the activities of the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) and the issue of conferring SAN. There are numerous complaints among lawyers and the general public that, wow, SANship has now evolved into something like the market. You are free to buy whatever you want. However, I am confident that the vast majority of those who are awarded this rank deserve it.

“And when people claim that money has been spent, there is no society that does not receive complaints when things are completed. The performance of these lawyers in court can sometimes give rise to accusations that someone was granted SAN without merit. One of the major requirements for becoming a SAN is that you have practised law in court, that you have attended court, and that you have begun and completed your case at the lower court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court.

“That means you are adaptable; you understand the fundamentals of the law, you practise, you know how to appear in court, what to say and what not to say, you stand on your feet and you speak the law. Some SANs stand up in court, and they occasionally make serious mistakes. Then you see them dribbled by a younger attorney.

“When that happens, people are likely to begin talking about it. Did this individual receive his own SAN from the highest decision-making body in the legal profession? Or, where did he get his own? These are observations that people make.

“The Learnt Silk and his team should work with the LPPC to raise the standard for conferring SAN. If you are going to confer, make sure it is someone who can defend it.

When asked if Mr. Yakubu Maikyau underperformed as NBA President, the former EFCC Senior Prosecutor responded, “The last two years have been a lot of issues. This is not because Y.C. underperformed. It is not because he was not what we expected when we elected him; as you know, life happens. People do their best, and sometimes that best is not what others want.

“There were many controversies during his tenure. The Law Society of Nigeria is a new association that hopes to register with the CAC. They have an issue with the CAC about registering that association. Aside from the Law Society issue, SPIDEL members filed a lawsuit against the Bar conference, requesting that it be stopped. That struck me as sacrilegious.

“The BAR conference is the world’s largest gathering of lawyers. NBA Nigeria is Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest gathering of lawyers. The NBA conference is the world’s largest. For me, asking the court to prevent the NBA from holding elections was sacrilegious.

“We hope that Afam Osigwe will use his extensive knowledge of the Bar to foster unity, to speak with thought leaders in the legal profession, including those who are too old to attend conferences, and to speak with Bar Chairmen and Secretaries from across the country.

“Look at what is going on today, and I want it to be heard clearly. NBA Conference. We go to a conference. We pay for practice fees. We pay the participation fees. This year, we paid more and there was no conference bag.

“My son, his colleagues from his chambers, and other lawyers all asked the same question: ‘Where is the conference bag?’ We went to a conference and only got a biro, a jotter, and our tag.

“I would like to ask Afam Osigwe, through this medium, to do better the next time. Let this not happen again. Let it not happen that lawyers attend a Bar conference after having paid their practising and conference fees, and there is no bag to keep their materials in while moving around the conference. I believe we should not allow this to happen. “My candid advice.”