A week after Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme of the Court of Appeal in Awka openly criticized two State High Court Judges in Jigawa and Imo states for allowing lawyers to use their courts for what is known in legal circles as forum shopping, a national official of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Dr. Monday Ubani has expressed support for punitive actions against the judges and lawyers involved in the cases.
Dr. Ubani who is the Chairman of the NBA Section of Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL), said in a statement in Lagos that he shared Justice Nwosu-Iheme’s view that both Justice Musa Ubale of the Jigawa State High Court at Birnin kudu and Justice B.C. Iheka of the Imo State High Court in Owerri should be brought before the National Judicial Council (NJC) to show cause why they should not be disciplined for professional misconduct over their involvement in the Anambra State governorship dispute, as regards the leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the ruling party in Anambra State which had on June twenty-third nominated Professor Charles Soludo, the former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, as its candidate in the November sixth gubernatorial election in the state.
According to SPIDEL Chairman, the legal practitioners, especially the Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANS), who brought the cases before them should be sanctioned for professional misconducts, too.
The legal practitioner regretted that some politicians from Anambra State have actually gone as far as the ECOWAS Court of Justice in a desperate move to acquire political power.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan is one of prominent Nigerian leaders who have criticized the gross abuse of the judicial process by Anambra politicians, especially during elections.
Commending Justice Nwosu-Iheme for upholding the public good with her pronouncement on forum shopping by lawyers to Anambra politicians, the NBA SPIDEL chairman said they can heave a sigh of relief knowing full well that there are still persons in Nigeria that can stand and speak truth to power.
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