Ayodele Olalere
Following the declaration by the Federal government through the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami , that the Operation Amotekun is illegal, former President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) and activist lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) have said that the governors of the South West Nigeria have done nothing wrong with the formation of the security outfit.
The two legal luminaries made their positions known at the Wednesday 16th annual Gani Fawehinmi lecture organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Ikeja branch, held at Airport Hotel, Lagos.
According to Agbakoba, who was a guest lecturer at the event, the governors only put up security measures as against policing as claimed by the AGF.
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“What they are doing is not policing but security measures. The Inspector General of Police was involved when they started but I don’t know what happened and he backed out. Maybe they had a re-think,” Agbakoba said.
He added the constitution give the governors wide and enormous powers which he noted they have not exhausted, adding there is enough space in the constitution for everybody to advance.
“We all need to have the Gani spirit. May be, the association of Attorney Generals would need to go to court on the matter to determine who is wrong”, he said.
He continued: ” We need to lower the temperature of the language.We need to convince our Northern brothers that restructuring will not break Nigeria but that it will benefit everybody, that it will make the regions more powerful and independent”.
Agbakoba urged Nigerians to jettison restructuring and advocates for cooperative federalism to be put in place.
In his contribution, Falana said what the governors are doing is not more than protecting and securing their people in line with the constitution.
He remarked that the only prohibition against any group is Section 22 of the constitution which said nobody shall set up a military wing.
He added that restructuring is no longer a southern affair even as he expressed regret that the All Progressives Congress (APC) which had it in its manifesto and once set up a committee look into it is no longer committed to it.
While speaking on the topic ” Is Judiciary Under Siege by the Executive”, Mr Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) noted that while judicial officers must exhibit high level of competence and diligence, the Executive must not employ self-help in the guise of correction of the Judiciary.
” The rule of law must at all times and in all situations be observed. The test of the maturity of any democracy can be measured by the preparedness of its organs to observe the rule of law even in extremely difficult situations.
“The Bar, on its part, must also not relent in performing its role as the “guardian angel” of the independence of the Judiciary. It is axiomatic that the Bar is a major casualty of an attack on the judiciary.
“When the Judiciary is cowed by the Executive, the Bar suffers because litigants, who are clients of lawyers, are not able to obtain, from the judiciary, decisions which are rendered by courts constituted in such a manner as to secure their independence and impartiality which is an essential ingredient of the right to fair hearing guaranteed by the constitution”.
Oyetibo emphasized that the Bar has a duty to ward off, through the instrumentality of the law, any tyrannical attempt by the Executive to subject the Judiciary to intimidation with a view to subjugating it to subtle control,” he said.
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Chairman NBA, Ikeja, Prince Dele Oloke, in a welcome address, described Gani Fawehinmiism as a human right colossus whose relevance to the society remained unparalleled.
” In all his travails in the hands of the state, he was unwavering in his beliefs and convictions that only strict adherence to rule of law is the premise upon which a just and egalitarian society can be founded,” he said.
In his contribution, former 1st Vice President, NBA, and chairman organizing committee, Monday Ubani, in his address, noted that Fawehinmi used laws as instrument of social change in every area of national life.
