NBA Makes U-Turn, Supports Buhari’s Bid To Rid The Judiciary Of Corruption

NBA Makes U-Turn, Supports Buhari’s Bid To Rid The Judiciary Of Corruption
The Nigerian Bar Association has made a dramatic u-turn from their earlier position where they declared a state of emergency in the judiciary in protest of the arrest of judges, to now throwing their weight completely behind President Buhari’s effort to clean the judiciary. In a statement released today, the NBA recommended that all the judges under investigation should proceed on a compulsory leave until their innocence is established. They then set up a task force to review the situation and recommend ways in which the judiciary can best be cleaned-up.

Excerpt of the statement reads:

“We have also spoken firmly on our commitment to rid the judiciary and indeed the bar of all corrupt elements. In the course of the last several days, the NBA has continued to hold high level consultations with all segments of the bar and other stakeholders and indeed the administration on how to address what has obviously become a major concern to all Nigerians within and outside the country. That is corruption in the judiciary.

“On Thursday 13th of October at the meeting of bar leaders comprising past NBA Presidents, Past General Secretaries and past Attorneys –General of the Federation, we reviewed very carefully the developments after listening to detailed briefings from both the Attorney General and Minister of Justice as well the Secretary of the National Judicial Council.

“One of the resolutions we took was to set up a Task Force to urgently review the current
developments and come up with clear specific recommendations on how best to clean up the nation’s judiciary and rebuild confidence of Nigerians in our law courts. I am expecting the report of that task force in two weeks.

“In the meantime we have continued with our consultations and engagements. We will be coming up with bold and clear recommendations which we will pass to the National Judicial Council and the Government.

“In the interim however, we strongly recommend that, without prejudice to the innocence or otherwise of the Judges involved in the ongoing investigations, they should be required to recuse themselves from further judicial functions or proceed on compulsory leave until their innocence is fully and completely established or until the conclusion of all judicial or disciplinary proceedings.” ~ A.B Mahmoud, SAN, NBA President

This is a major victory for the war against corruption, they clearly have realised that Buhari and the law enforcement agencies acted on point of law, hence they have keyed into the project to give Nigeria a clean bill of health in the judiciary.