Don’t cover crooks, President tells lawyers

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday urged Nigerian lawyers not to sacrifice integrity of the legal system in a bid to cover misdeeds of clients, no matter how lucrative the brief.

The president made the call at the opening of the 55th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

"I am convinced that law, law-makers, lawyers, law courts and the law enforcement agencies have pivotal responsibilities to discharge, if the change we seek is ever to materialise. This administration has taken on the challenge of improving security, fighting corruption and revamping the economy, among many others. The fight against corruption is in reality a struggle for the restoration of law and order."

"Corruption and impunity become widespread when disrespect for law is allowed to thrive in society. Disrespect for law also thrives when people get away with all sorts of shady deals and the court system is somehow unable to check them. Ability to manipulate and frustrate the legal system is the crowning glory of the corrupt and, as may be expected, this has left many legal practitioners and law courts tainted in an ugly way."

He stressed the need to make the nation’s courts functional and effective again.

"This means that we must have lawyers who take the ethics of the profession very seriously; lawyers who will not frustrate the course of justice, even though they defend their clients with all legitimate means and resources.’’

According to him, Nigeria needs ethical lawyers who always keep the end of justice in mind and will never sacrifice the integrity of the legal system to cover the misdeeds of their clients, no matter how lucrative the brief may be.