Amid an ongoing row with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, over its registration, the Nigerian Law Society, NLS, has declared that it will benefit Nigerians by breaking the monopoly of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA.
NLS is an emerging professional association of lawyers which the CAC says is operating without registration.
The emergence of the NLS is also being opposed by the NBA, the umbrella body of lawyers on Nigeria.
Recently, the Registrar General of the CAC, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, had written to the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, seeking approval to prosecute the NLS and other corporate entities operating without registration in the country.
The CAC had also, on 6th August, 2024, in a publication titled ‘Public Notice Status of Nigerian Law Society’, stated that the NLS is not registered, while describing its activities as illegal.
In a letter dated 22nd August, 2024, addressed to President Bola Tinubu, and also copied to the AGF and the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, the NLS accused Magaji of using the Police to harass its members instead of waiting for the outcome of an ongoing lawsuit at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.
In the said lawsuit pending at the Court of Appeal, the Registrar General is appealing an Abuja Federal High Court judgement, delivered on 15th December, 2023, which directed the CAC to register the Nigerian Law Society.
In the letter sent to the President, the CAC Registrar General was accused of writing petitions to the Department of State Security Services, DSS, Nigerian Police and Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, asking them to close down the physical office and website of the NLS.
However, speaking with DAILY POST, Secretary of the NLS, Steve Abar declared that thr emergence of the NLS will provide a better alternative for legal practitioners in the country.
Abar insisted that the NLS will benefit Nigerians in several areas, particularly by standing with the citizens and holding government accountable.
He said, “Basically we want to provide options for people. The NBA has been operating as a monopoly – I don’t have to tell you about the disadvantages of a monopoly. When there is no competition, you know that the end user or the customer is the one at the receiving end and when there is competition the consumer is ultimately better for it. We want to provide competition, amongst other things, that is what we intend to do.
“More fundamentally the Constitution guarantees freedom of association, the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights guarantees freedom of association. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees freedom of association and the NBA, like the name suggests, is nothing but an association. That is the point that many people miss, they started the way we want to start today. It is just an association of lawyers that came together to see how they can better their lot and promote their professional development, that is all.
“So it is essentially what we want to do. To see how as an association we can support the Administration of Justice and related matters, to see how we can enhance the development of the profession and our colleagues through continuing legal education and trainings, engage in advocacy reforms especially to promote democracy and strengthening our institutions. We want to see how we can collaborate with other individuals and organizations, including the NBA, to achieve national and regional integration and development, and promote the virtues which the legal profession stands for.”
Noting that the NBA is no longer able to hold government to account due to alleged ‘compromise’ on the part of the association’s leadership, Abar stressed that the NLS will serve as the conscience of the society.
“If we are one hundred per cent satisfied with what NBA is doing there will be no need for us to associate under a different platform. So if you have another body of lawyers that is giving a different opinion I think people will have a balanced perspective.
“If you have a leadership that decides to hobnob with the government, what becomes the fate of the people? We are trying to create that balance and our core position is this – do not deviate from the core principles because lawyers are supposed to the conscience of the society and as far as some of us are concerned the NBA has been failing in this respect.
“So what we intend to do differently is to ensure that we do not succumb to state capture like NBA has been captured. Many of our lawyers feel frustrated by the role that the NBA has been relegated to presently. We want to provide the alternative so that people can’t say that the body of lawyers have failed this country. Let it be that there is a body of lawyers that stand for what is true, just and fair,” Abar added.
Continuing, Abar identified what he described as ‘control of resources’ as the reason the NBA is kicking against the emergence of the NLS.
He said, “It is all about finance. The NBA collects dues from members, the NBA collect bar practice fees. The NBA’s annual budget is in the realm of N4 billion. So somebody feels you are coming to take part of the funds. If not why should an association say that they have issue with another association coming up? What is our problem with them? We are not fighting with them for anything. It is all about what they are gaining, it is not about service. It is about control of resources.”
Abar added, “Along the line the NBA has been captured in the statutes setting up certain government bodies. Like the NBA has slots in the CAC, the NBA has slots in NJC, in Legal Aid Council; it has slots in Council for Legal Education, it has slots in National Human Rights Commission, it has slots in Law Reform Commission. There are about 15, 16 of them. So the NBA nominates people into those agencies. Those are the issues of control that is worrying them as far as I am concerned because over time NBA presidents appoint their spouses, their children, their hangers on to those places even without reverting to the National Executive Council. They do it surreptitiously. And for the records I am a past vice president of the NBA. I am a two-time national officer of the NBA. I served as first assistant secretary under JB Daudu, SAN, and second vice president under Okey Wali, SAN. So I am speaking as an insider.”
Meanwhile, as its registration row with the CAC is yet to be resolved, the NLS is seeking a Presidential Order that will give legitimacy to the association. According to the group, potential benefits that will come with the Presidential Order include increased number of lawyers available for delivery of legal services for decongestion of courts, prisons and custodial centers in line with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
The NLS also said the Presidential Order will give legal backing to its members to provide pro bono legal services to indigent Nigerians who are unable to afford lawyers.
The NLS equally said it would improve the quality of legal practice in Nigeria by enforcing a mandatory continuing legal education programme amongst its members.
We will benefit Nigerians by breaking NBA monopoly – Nigerian Law Society