A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN has called on members of the legal profession to desist from attacking the judiciary in the media space.
The legal icon, who described as troubling the increasing trends of lawyers castigating members of the bench across television and radio platforms, urged them to take appropriate measures in ventilating their grievances instead of taking it to the media.
Olanipekun spoke at the weekend while delivering third lecture series of the Faculty of Law, at the Federal University,Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti state titled, ‘ Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practise : Effective Strategy for Using Law As a Tool for Social Justice In Nigeria’
While revealing that there is a clear difference between theory and practical in the law profession, the chairman Governing Council of University of Lagos explained that law must be deployed towards ensuring social justice in the society.
According to him, the law profession like other human practices has its own challenges, urging people not to lose hope in the nation’s judiciary with assurance that things will soon be better.
He said,” I will not believe or agree with the notion or impression that justice is being denied in Nigeria, I believe things can be better.
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“I delivered a keynote address at the 70th anniversary of Ibadan NBA recently and I was pleading with our colleagues at the bar that we must stop attacking the bench and also the bench should stop attacking the bar.
“We must not engage in self-destruct, although some social media pundits put it that Olanipekun hits the judiciary, I never did. We must stop pushing the judiciary to the Golgotha.
“There is no institution manned by man that does not have its own deficiency, where you will not get minuses, where all will be pluses, it can’t be 100 percent, not even the executive or the legislature.
“You must not kill the judiciary, I pity and sympathize with them and even me as a senior lawyer, if I have complaints I talked to them.
“If you have any issue particularly relating to judgments, the scholarly thing to do as a lawyer is not for you to go to television and radio houses and start lambasting the court.
“Put your observations on paper, critique and criticize them in law journals, that is what it is. You can compare what you think is right with what they do and put the two together, that is what we were taught.
“The most annoying thing is that some of our colleagues don’t read the judgments they are complaining about or pontificating on.
“I have taken the silk since 1991 and I was called to the bar in 1976 , you can’t see me after losing a case and the next thing is to the media, even when I know some courts are unfair to me ; I know where to channel by protest and reservations.”
On the need to close the widening gap between theory and practice in law profession in attaining social justice, the former NBA president said, “ It is pertinent and expedient for us to deliberately work towards the bridging of the gap between theory and practice of law in order to achieve the ultimate goal which it is designed for, that is, the attainment of social justice.
“Law is what differentiates man from animal. Without law, life will be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”, borrowing the profound words of Thomas Hobbes.”
He reiterated the need for a new constitution in the country, noting that, “our constitution is too pedestrian and the earlier we do something about it, the better for us as a country.”
Olanipekun urged the FUOYE law students not to lose focus in the course of pursuing their career in the profession, assuring them that with determination and hard work, they would make exploits in the legal practice.
Speaking, the Vice Chancellor of FUOYE, Professor Abayomi Fasina described Olanipekun as an authority in the nation’s legal profession, saying that his contributions cannot be over-emphasized.
The VC said that his appointment as the first professor of practice by the university was necessitated in view of his expertise and to serve as a motivation for students of law from the university.
Fasina said the lecture was more inspiring and educating, calling on the students not to be distracted in their journey to greatness and emulating the hard work exemplified by Olanipekun in his career.
