Godswill Akpabio, has advised the new Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) to punish senior lawyers who are fond of appearing on television to criticise the nation’s judiciary system or comment on cases in court.
Akpabio gave the advice on Wednesday when Mrs Kekere-Ekun appeared before senators for screening.
Although the senate president did not mention names of any senior lawyers but those who constantly appear on television to discuss judicial issues include human right lawyers Femi Falana, Inibehe Effiong, Liborous Oshoma and Frank Tietie.
“I would say that recently, very senior members of the bar, we all know them. They are fond of being on Politics Today ( a programme on Channels TV). They were commenting on cases that are before either the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court. And this wasn’t the case in the past.
“We are saying, under your tenure, will there be a procedure where you bring them to justice? Because they ought not to. Because their comments and their analyses tend to influence the final outcome of those cases. And the most instances tend to bring about injustice.
“They will go out there, instead of arguing the cases in the court, they will go and sit down on television and be arguing the cases on television,” Akpabio said.
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The senate president stressed that many junior lawyers have started emulating the senior lawyers who are fond of appearing on television to discuss judicial issues.
He argued that if the judiciary could punish any of the senior lawyers for the action, it would serve as a deterrent to others and promote integrity of the judiciary.
“And for the junior lawyers, the younger ones who are coming up, they are now beginning to think that that is a norm.”
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