Malema challenges Africans on unity, as Sultan bemoans purchase of justice

Opposition leader in South Africa and the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Julius Malema, has charged Africans on the need to forge a united continent. Malema stated this in his keynote address during the opening of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference (AGC) in Enugu. Similarly, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad […]

Opposition leader in South Africa and the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Julius Malema, has charged Africans on the need to forge a united continent.

Malema stated this in his keynote address during the opening of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference (AGC) in Enugu.

Similarly, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has decried the increasing transactional nature of justice in Nigeria.

Malema said it was time the people united to build a strong economy to power the global economy with the mineral resources such as diamonds, gold, oil, etc and the skilled workforce the continent was blessed with.

He recalled Nigeria’s partnership with South Africa during the dark days of apartheid through the South African Relief Fund, which raised millions of dollars, Nigerian students, who sacrificed a portion of their food for the Mandela Tax, and Nigerian Government’s boycott of the 1976 Olympics and the 1979 Commonwealth Games in protest to apartheid in South Africa.

“Xenophobia is a betrayal of African unity; it is a sickness borne of poverty, inequality and government failure; its victims are our African brothers and sisters. Nigerians, Zimbabweans, Congolese, and Somalis are not the cause of South Africa’s unemployment crisis. The cause lies in the untransformed economy of South Africa, which remains in the hands of the white minority and multinational corporations, who continue to exploit labour while refusing to industrialise,” he said.

He reminded lawyers that their profession cannot be separated from liberation struggles that he is involved in on the African continent as the instruments of justice.

In his address, the Sultan of Sokoto, said wealthy Nigerians are now committing all manner of crimes and going scot-free, as justice is becoming increasingly purchasable in the country.

“Today in Nigeria, justice is increasingly becoming a purchasable commodity,” he said.

“The poor are becoming victims of miscarriage of justice, while the rich commit crimes and walk the streets scot-free.”

The monarch charged the NBA to defend the rule of law, ensuring both the rich and those in power are not above the law.

“You are resolving to uphold the highest principles of the rule of law to ensure that everyone, including those in power, is subject to and accountable under the law. If we are able to do this, we would have addressed the core of the crisis of governance in this country,” the Sultan of Sokoto noted.

Also, a former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, has urged lawyers in the country to uphold the integrity of the legal profession and not trade it for financial gains.

She lamented the state of the economy and the hardship faced by Nigerians, especially the poor.

She cautioned lawyers against allowing the profession to be “handed over to a bunch of lousy politicians,” warning that such tendencies could destroy future generations.