By Chidinma Ewunonu-Aluko
A FORMER president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Wole Olanipekun, has called on the judiciary to maintain its integrity by purging itself of bad eggs.
Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), made the call in Ibadan on Monday at the opening of the Law Week and 70th anniversary celebration of the NBA, Ibadan Branch under the theme: “Law, Legal Practice and Development”.
The legal expert urged the bar and bench to identify the bad and corrupt ones, bring them to justice, and flush them out of the system lest they rubbish other good practitioners.
He called on the judiciary stakeholders to join the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, to sanitise the entire judiciary system.
Olanipekun enjoined the bar to stop all means of attacking judges, especially in the media.
According to him, the bench should also ensure temperate language for the legal practitioners, always acting nobly, whether in court or not, and behaving honourably with their colleagues.
“Do not engage in strife, blackmail, mudslinging, campaign of calumny, treachery, or any attempt to pull anyone down.
“If the forbears of this branch had engaged themselves in mudslinging, war of attrition, among other vices, Ibadan bar would not be where it is today.
“Life in the country will become solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short without law playing its proper role,” he said.
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He says the Ibadan branch has excelled in the legal profession by every imaginable matrix.
“In terms of the quality and content of its products, it towers high among the comity of NBA branches in Nigeria.
“It is, actually, the leader, leading with exemplary virtues while others follow.
“In the next 30 years, when you will be celebrating your centenary anniversary, your grass shall remain green as you continue to blossom,” Olanipekun said.
Meanwhile, the Oyo State Deputy Governor, Mr Bayo Lawal, urged the lawyers to maintain good conduct to project the profession better.
“Let us always remember that caution is recommended in this profession; we must not blackmail one another because it’s never found as part of the profession,” he said.
The chairman, NBA, Ibadan Branch, Mr Ibrahim Lawal, said the week-long anniversary celebrations, which began on Friday, would feature a series of exciting activities.
“The mobilisation of fantastic resources, men, and materials, holds the promise of exciting moments throughout the celebrations.
“The culminating effect will be the setting of a veritable landmark in the history of the NBA branches in the entire country,” Lawal said.
Also, Mr Mutalubi Ojo (SAN), Chairman, Law Week and 70th Anniversary Planning Committee, described the Ibadan branch as the foremost bar association with several landmark achievements.
“So, we have every cause to roll out the drums to celebrate our success stories.
“It’s a week of loaded and star-studded programmes that will better the country in all aspects,” Ojo said. (NAN)
