THE NBA CONFERENCE IN LAGOS
Sonnie Ekwowusi argues that lawyers are not doing enough to shape events in the society
The 2017 General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) commences in Lagos on Friday, August 18 and will end on August 25, 2017. Considering the great moral crisis holding our country hostage at the moment accentuated by the unspeakable passivity and silence of those whose positions of authority oblige them to speak out in the areas in which they assume personal responsibility, I cannot think of a more appropriate or apt theme for the 2017 annual general conference of the NBA than the following theme: The Lawyer, Conscience, Truth and Justice. I don’t know why but I call tell you that these days John F. Kennedy’s favourite quotation from Dante Alighieri’s epic poem “The Divine Comedy” has ceaselessly been flooding my memory. In illustrating the imperative of speaking truth to power, Dante had in the first part of the “Inferno” stated viva voce that the hottest place in hell should be reserved for those who keep quiet or who remain neutral in times of great moral crisis. Paraphrasing Dante, Theodore Roosevelt had in 1915 written that Dante had “reserved a special place of infamy” for neutral angels or angels who keep quiet in times of great moral crisis.
Only a superficial person with a cauterised conscience will not be alarmed by the harvest of secessionist declarations that constantly depicts Nigeria as one hellish place to live in. Any serious reflection on the political developments in Nigeria could be saddening. Why? Because they hardly square up with any logic or simple political theorem. We have been forced to live sheepishly from hand to mouth like people without hope. Only a thoughtless person with a lax conscience will not be moved to team up with others in seeking remedy to the myriads of anomalies, oddities and social injustices that now define Nigeria. It is said that lawyers are leaders. They are not members of the crowd who reduce themselves to the level of acquiescent “yes-men”. Lawyers ought to be shapers of democratic values whether or not they wield any political power or subscribe to any political partisanship. Lawyers, if you like, are the purveyors of the fundamental principles of social life one of which is the principle of the rule of law. In his keynote address on the theme, “Crisis in the Rule of Law” at the 1989 Annual General Conference of the NBA on August 28, 1989 Justice Chukwudifu Chukwudifu Oputa (of the blessed memory) said that the rule of law was a pre-requisite not only for the sustenance of democracy but for good governance. Justice Oputa also felt able to say: “If we are not ruled by law we are ruled by men and man is extremely an unpredictable animal”. How can we be ruled by creatures of appetite, imbeciles and unpredictable animals? When lawyers who ought to be the guardians and consciences of our democratic experiment shirk their responsibility and instead become overnight Abuja pseudopoliticians and Abuja loot dissipaters
In the past, the NBA was synonymous with integrity, propriety, progress and proper ordering of a drifting society. The NBA was a populist voice ringing out in the wilderness in relentless search for constitutionalism, in search of propriety and in search for the truth and justice. The NBA had for many years served as the societal moral clearing-house. Any thoughtful person who wanted some clear perspectives on the goings on in Nigeria looked up to the NBA and lawyers for far-reaching insights. Unfortunately we are witnessing the era in which individualism, narcissism, egoism and elitism are robbing the NBA and lawyers in Nigeria of vital strength. The individualist, whose ideal society is totally at the service of his own egoism, his titles, honour, good standing, material success, public applause and so forth revels under a deformed conscience that is impervious to the values of truth and justice. He canonises acquiescent “yes man”, turns self-satisfied narcissism (which is equivalent to empty self-conceit) into the equivalent of self-fulfilment, and puts a halt to any achievement or promotion of the common good. Truth is the foremost common good. Man is constantly searching for the truth. Unexamined life, said Socrates, is not worth living. A serious harm can be done to social life when the truth is denied or scuttled. Openness to the truth paves way for the reign of justice. Justice is the vital thread that kneads society together. Without justice it is impossible for society aims to be fulfilled. Patron of lawyers Sir Thomas More allowed his conscience, truth and justice to govern his attitudes and dispositions at the bar, bench and as the Lord Chancellor of England. You may recall how Sir Thomas tendered his resignation as the Lord Chancellor of England because he refused to accede to the demands of King Henry V111 which he considered violated his good conscience.
Coming home, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, fits into the mould of lawyers who refused to compromise fundamental principles. If Gani were alive and kicking amid today’s degenerating social and democratic values he probably would have staged a one-man demonstration. ‘Charlie boy’ Oputa is the new leading light. I certainly have nothing against ‘Charlie boy’ Oputa. When everything seems to be failing ‘Charlie boy’ and his followers are now the conscience of the nation, reminiscent of the saying that in a country of the blind, one eyed-man is king. How do they say it again? Nature abhors a vacuum. When the learned and the wise shirk their responsibilities, ‘Charlie boy’ Oputa and his followers are coming out to prove their mettle. Thus what is considered wise before men have become foolish, and, conversely, what is considered foolish have turned out to be sheer wisdom.
The world is governed by its ideals, and seldom or never has there been an ideal which has exercised a more salutary influence on humanity than truth and justice. No abstract democracy in which the political leaders intentionally commit wrongs against the country can save the country. If you take away truth and justice all that remains in a country are open robberies. We must begin to move away from the statist mentality that once we establish democratic institutions and enact laws to ‘solve’ all our human problems then we have accomplished everything. In principle, functional democratic institutions and laws are good, but we need outspoken conscientious leaders and citizens for proper ordering of society.
LAWYERS OUGHT TO BE SHAPERS OF DEMOCRATIC VALUES WHETHER OR NOT THEY WIELD ANY POLITICAL POWER OR SUBSCRIBE TO ANY POLITICAL PARTISANSHIP