The Fight Against Corruption in the Judiciary (FIACIJ), a group, has called for sanctions on lawyers who encourage security agencies to breach the law.
By Sandra Umeh
The Fight Against Corruption in the Judiciary (FIACIJ), a group, has called for sanctions on lawyers who encourage security agencies to breach the law.
Mr Bayo Akinlade, Convener, FIACIJ, made the call on Tuesday in Lagos while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
“It has been discovered that lawyers often encourage cases of rights infringement brought by the police.
“This as a sad development. The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) should wield its big stick against lawyers found culpable.
“When we handle cases of illegal arrests and detention, we discover that lawyers are mostly responsible for encouraging the police to break the law.
“This is bad and unacceptable yet, nothing is done to discipline these lawyers.
“Sadly, I cannot say I have ever heard of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) taking action against any of such lawyers” he said
Akinlade gave the instance of a lawyer, who had detained a man in police custody for several weeks, on the basis of commercial transactions.
According to him, this is most unacceptable and a show of “naked power” by a legal practitioner because Nigeria is not a country of dictators.
“Recently, I was contacted by a family friend who informed me that her brother was detained at a Lagos police station for two weeks, without bail.
“I contacted the station who confirmed his arrest and when I asked for his offence, I was told he was indebted to someone for a loan transaction.
“On further investigations, I discovered that the person who had secured his arrest was a lawyer in government employment.
“This happens in many cases in our society and the question is, why should a lawyer whose responsibility is to protect the rule of law, now encourage a break down of law ,” he asked.
Akinlade noted that it was illegal for a lawyer to be seen as promoting lawlessness, and called on the NBA to clamp down on any erring legal practitioner.
“Lawyers are the mouth piece of society, and it is important they are made to live up to this expectation, ” he said. (NAN)
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