Are lawyers ‘divided’ over Buhari’s anti-graft war?

The first Nigerian lawyer, Christopher Sapara Williams (1885-1915) was convinced of the onerous task nature bestowed on him to set the direction of Nigeria’s legal practice and ensured that same is religiously adhered to. His famous quote: “The legal practitioner lives for the direction of his people and the advancement of the cause of his […]

The first Nigerian lawyer, Christopher Sapara Williams (1885-1915) was convinced of the onerous task nature bestowed on him to set the direction of Nigeria’s legal practice and ensured that same is religiously adhered to. His famous quote: “The legal practitioner lives for the direction of his people and the advancement of the cause of his countrymen’’, won many followings to him within and outside legal practice in the country, who believed Williams quote was laced with extra-ordinary philosophy and ethos.
Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) was fond of this quote which shaped the direction of the activist’s legal practice and his contributions to the political advancement of Nigeria throughout his sojourn in life.
The contributions of the bar and the bench to the development of Nigeria cannot be over-emphasized.Through the chequered history of Nigeria, some members of the bar and bench to some extent dared the odds to save the nation’s ship from wreck through their thoughts, knowledge and controversies.
At a point, the late Gani Fawehinmi was a lone ranger to ‘walk the talk’ of his conviction as a lawyer, even when his constituency was averse to some of his actions and threatened sanctions against him.
In recent years, Gani and his co-travellers thoughts on the malaise in the bar and bench  has become disturbingly pronounced as the judiciary lost the steam to hold forth as the bastion of hope for  the common man in the  country.
When President Muhammadu Buhari assumed power last year and promised to drive his administration around war against corruption, many discerning minds believed that he needed the cooperation of  the bar and bench to achieve the lofty objective.
Perhaps this is not the best of the time for the members of bar due to recent happening in the anti-corruption war arena of the federal government. Recently, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu had on two different occasions accused senior lawyers of being against the anti-corruption war of the federal government and aiding criminals and this statement has pitched lawyers against themselves.
The EFCC chairman had while receiving some lawyers led by Femi Falana (SAN) who were on a solidarity visit to the commission’s Lagos office last week, again alleged that some senior lawyers are out to thwart the effort of the agency in fighting corruption.
“Corruption has started fighting back. Beneficiaries of proceeds of corruption have constituted themselves into a gang of 134 lawyers to fight back but we will win,” he said.
He described them as a ‘set of unpatriotic Nigerians’, adding that they have created an industry out of providing expertise and technical know-how to crooks.
“It is against this backdrop that I made my call on some senior lawyers to aid EFCC to recover our stolen commonwealth, rather than helping to thwart the efforts of the government in that direction. Since I made that call, a number of your colleagues have been calling for my head,” Magu said.
The EFCC chairman also announced that a number of lawyers have been taken to court for aiding corruption while some have been convicted.
It does not seem that the EFCC is talking tough as the anti-graft commission matched it with ‘action’ last week  following the arraignment of a senior lawyer, Ricky Tarfa (SAN), who has been in the news of recent for his alleged role in aiding two suspects accused of corruption. Last Tuesday, he was arraigned before Justice Aishat Opesanwo of Lagos High Court in Igbosere on two counts charge of obstruction of justice and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The  senior  lawyer pleaded not guilty to the two counts charge and was granted administrative bail by the judge, but his plea was not water-tight enough to see him as an ‘angel in the temple of justice’
The dust raised by the arrest of the senior advocate is yet to settle as the agency in a counter affidavit in response to a fundamental right suit filed by Tarfa, accused him of bribing a judge of a Federal High Court, Justice Mohammed Yunusa, with the sum of N225, 000 to deliver judgment in his favour in the matter he had before the judge.
A respondent to the suit, who is also an operative of EFCC, Moses Awolusi, stated in counter-affidavit that a check carried out into the Access Bank account of Tarfa’s law firm revealed that a sum of N225, 000 was sent to Justice Mohammed Yunusa on January 7, 2014 which the EFCC claimed was a bribe.
“I know from the facts revealed during investigation that the said bribe of N225,000 was accepted and acknowledged by Justice Yunusa in a text message to the applicant, wherein he said, ‘Thank you my senior advocate’,” he said
“I also know that an investigation has revealed that the applicant’s law firm was in the habit of asking the Chief Registrar of the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal High Court to assign his cases before His Lordship, Honourable Justice M.N. Yunusa in furtherance of the understanding between the applicant and the particular judge,” he added in the affidavit.
But the embattled SAN, who admitted giving out the money to the judge, denied the allegation that he gave it out as bribe saying in his counter-affidavit that the said money was from committee of friends which is contribution to the burial of the judge’s father-in-law.
This development set the tone for the polarization of lawyers between the EFCC’s chairman and others, who believed that the allegation was an insult on the judiciary. One of those who were in support of the EFCC is Falana who led other group of lawyers to express their support for the anti-graft agency’s renewed commitment to fighting corruption. He condemned as embarrassing the actions of some lawyers who are said to be hindering the fight against corruption.
“We are here to assure the EFCC of our unflinching support and solidarity as long as the EFCC is prepared to fight graft without trace of selectivity. We also want to urge you to beware not to fall into the fallacy of generalization. There are bad lawyers and judges, but there are also good ones.
“We are embarrassed by few of our privileged colleagues who bribe judges, talk to them behind doors to pervert justice,” the senior lawyer said.
While this was going on, another group of lawyers were at the Aso Rock presidential villa to express their support to the anti- corruption war. The lawyers under the aegis of Coalition of Lawyers Against Corruption in Nigeria (COLAC) disclosed that it will stage an anti-corruption rally in Abuja on March 25.
Among those who believed that the anti- graft agency is wrong to accuse lawyers of aiding suspects in the anti-corruption war, are those who followed Tarfa to court in solidarity. Throughout his arraignment, Ricky Tarfa was represented by several senior lawyers with intimidating academic credentials and years of practice.
Besides, President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Augustine Alegeh (SAN) faulted the allegation of the EFCC’s boss to the effect that lawyers are frustrating trial of looters in the country adding that the federal government must fight corruption within the ambit of the law to respect persons accused of looting the treasury as innocent until proven guilty. He said counsels for accused persons were merely representing them, and not making up defences, just as counsels prosecuting the accused in court were merely carrying out prosecution and not persecution.
Constitutional lawyer, Dr.Mike Ozekhome (SAN) also emphasized the need for rule of law to be adhered to and fair hearing given to parties in the suit, adding that it’s not enough to drag lawyers into the mud in the quest of defending an accused.
It is obvious that the two camps among the lawyers would fire more salvos to convince the court of competent jurisdiction or public opinion on the strength and the k-leg of the ongoing war against graft by the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Nigerians are therefore waiting to see which of the camp will ‘overpower’ the other with ‘superior’ conviction of the shape of the anti-graft war.