The Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Group, Ms Amina J. Mohammed has urged the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to ensure the success of the 2023 general elections.
Mohammed, in a keynote address she delivered on Monday at the State of the Nation dialogue on Security, Economy and Administration of Justice organised by the NBA in Abuja, urged the association to come out with how to effectively manage conflicts that may arise from the conduct of the general elections.
According to her, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made a giant stride in ensuring a credible, free and fair election in the country and assured of the United Nations’ commitment to ensuring a credible election in Nigeria.
She made case for an increase in the number of women in the politics of the country.
The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Yakubu Maikyau (SAN) in his speech said, what the country is experiencing today is a direct result of the legal profession’s abdication of the duty to provide direction and leadership to the people.
Maikyau, who apologised to Nigerians for the abdication added that, as members of the Bar, “we are reputed more for how much fees we charge our clients as opposed to the discharge of our primary call to offer guidance and/or offer ourselves for the advancement of the cause of our country.
He said his administration is strong on ensuring that lawyers observe the highest ethical and professional standards, so as to deliver on their primary call to the people and added that, Nigerians are looking unto to the NBA for a way out of the rather bleak situation in the country.
“We are the ones who, by the privilege of our training and expertise, are positioned to ask the right questions, interrogate the system and call those saddled with the responsibility of providing security for the lives and properties of Nigerians, to account for their stewardship”, he said.
According to him, just as the entire world is eagerly waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, so are Nigerians eagerly waiting for the discharge of the leadership responsibility and interventions of the members of the legal profession, adding that the NBA has what it takes to precipitate the leadership that will bring the succour and freedom Nigerians deserve.
“Nigerian legal practitioners must be able not only to perform their traditional functions of catering for the professional needs of the citizens, of administering justice and manning the various legal institutions of the state but they must also be involved in social change; they must be committed to law reform to ensure the harmonization of law with the culture of the people and they must strive to ensure a strict adherence to the rule of law and among other things, ensure that the newly acquired political power is carefully watched and controlled so that it is not used to protect or perpetuate the status quo or class domination”.
As the watchdog of the people, he said members of the NBA must, through their independence and total commitment to social justice, provide the necessary support to sustain an equally independent and fearless judiciary, the last hope of man for law and order, peace and progress.
The NBA boss stressed the need to continuously engage government at all levels to generate discussions that will provide Nigerians with sufficient information to guide them in making their choice of persons to occupy elective offices in the upcoming general elections.
Members of a panel of a discussion moderated by Eugenia Abu on the topic; “State of Human and State Security in Nigeria: Is there a way out”, lamented the security challenges in the country, even as they held that the security of lives and property of the citizens is the responsibility of the government.
A former Inspector General of Police, Dr Solomon Arase, a member of the panel in his comment called for an increase in the numerical strength of security agents, adding also that when there is a consequence of crime, there will be deterrent.
The panelist, comprising Brig-Gen Abubakar Hanafi Sa’ad (Rtd) and Group Captain Sadiq Garba Shehu (Rtd) called on the incoming president to look at using technologies and political will in addressing the security challenges in the country.
Sa’ad, in his contribution, described security as development and development as security and called on the incoming leadership of the country to take the issue of security and the peaceful coexistence of the country seriously.
Panelists on the second panel of discussion on the topic; “Review of the Nation’s Economic Journey in the last decade: Where do we go from now” said, people have the right to ask questions if elected political leaders failed in the management of the country’s resources.
The trio of Dr Babatunde Ajibade (SAN), Mr Wale Fapohunda (SAN) and Mrs Huwaila Mohammed formed the panel that discussed the “Administration of Justice in Nigeria: Problems, Prospects and Possible Solutions” in the NBA State of the Nation Dialogue.
The Presidential candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Maj. Al-Mustapha Hamza (Rtd), Sani Yabaji Yusuf of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Prof. Peter Umeadi of APGA, Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC), Prince Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Dumebi Kachikwu of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Nwanyanwu Daniel Daberechukwu of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
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