The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Women’s Forum has strongly condemned the fracas between two female lawyers at a Magistrate’s Court in Lagos.
A statement on Wednesday, signed by Head of the Forum’s Advocacy Committee, Folashade Alli, reads:
“In what is gradually becoming a worrisome and unwholesome trend, the Nigerian Bar Association Women’s Forum (NBAWF) is concerned by the tendency of learned colleagues to resort to physical and violent confrontations within the courtroom and before the full glare of the public. The Nigerian Bar Association Women Forum (NBAWF), through its Advocacy Committee, strongly condemns the actions of two female legal practitioners Ms. Nkiru Nwayanwu & Ms. Adaobi Emeka whose engagement in a physical fight within the premises of the Ojo Magistrates Court, Lagos on March 16, 2021, represents a flagrant violation of extant laws and the Rule(s) 1 and 26 of the Rules Professional Conduct which mandates lawyers to uphold the rule of law, maintain a high standard of professional conduct and display mutual respect and dignity in interactions and engagements as colleagues and professionals.
“We call upon the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee to act swiftly and decisively in addressing and reprimanding both lawyers for the apparent violations of the rules of professional conduct. We believe that the image and reputation of our noble profession must not be eroded and compromised and we would not condone any act or attempt to compromise these rules and bring disrepute to the profession,” Alli said.
Harping on the legal profession’s famed ethics, she said “The value of our profession is hinged on high ethical and professional standards; which must be upheld and exemplified in our conduct, interactions and engagements as colleagues and professionals.
“The Advocacy Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association Women Forum (NBAWF) also calls on fellow colleagues to exercise restraint, reason and civility in our dealings and actions as our profession is no place for undesirable and unwholesome practices and conduct,” the statement concluded.
