Lawyers must stop misbehaving for democracy’s sake – NBA

President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Okey Wali, has charged lawyers to “bring elements of sanity to the legal profession and stop misbehaving so as to nurture Nigeria’s democracy.”
Okey, who made the remarks at Ugep in Yakurr local government area of Cross River state, during the NBA Inaugural Law Week for Ikom branch at the weekend, said the judiciary must strive to cause ordinary man to believe in dispensation of justice.

He added that “the day the man in the street believes the judiciary has failed, that will mark the end of the nation.”
Represented by the Joe Agi, the NBA boss reiterated that the judiciary should cause Nigerians to believe in justice, law and order, adding “you should be just, you must be fair so that society would believe in you.”

Also speaking, the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, expressed hope that the on-going national conference would proffer solutions to multifaceted problems of the country.
Ndoma-Egba, who was represented by Barr Utum Eteng, kicked against over-emphasis on ethnicity, arguing that ethnicity should unite and not divide

Nigerians and reminded Nigerians of a phrase in the old National Anthem which said ‘though tongues and tribes differ, in brotherhood we stand.’
He advised the Judiciary to ensure the country’s democracy was not truncated, and believed that the NBA Law Week, which had the theme ‘Ethnic Nationalities and the Nigerian Nation: The Way Forward’ would help in sensitising members of the legal professions on the power of oneness to the good of the country.

In his remarks, the Chief Judge of Cross River state, Justice Okoi Itam, said the country’s judiciary was doing well and was improving as democracy matures in the country.