CONCERNED LAWYERS OF NIGERIA or CONCERNED pdp LAWYERS OF NIGERIA? I have just watched a group which calls itself concerned lawyers of Nigeria in a press conference monitored by the NTA in ithe NTA news tonight. The only issue of concern to the concerned lawyers of Nigeria is the WASC vertificate of GMB which they alleged bears all the stamps of forgery. The spokesman of the group was at great pains trying to explain the features of forgery the group said it detected in the certificate and called on the police and other security agencies to investigate and prosecute the general for forgery. I am really surprised that even lawyers who are supposed to belong to the honourable profession of the law will turn themselves in to a busy body and meddle in a matter which does not concern them. The question I ask this group is, whose brief are they handling? Who is their client in this case? As far as I know the issue of GMBs certificate is not a matter within their brief. GMB submitted his certificate to INEC as part of the requirements to qualify him to contest the presidential election. It is not a matter for the general public as the law confers the powers of determining whether any certificate submitted by a candidate meets the constitutional stipulations or not, exclusively on INEC. I am not sure that INEC has delegated its constitutional responsibility to this group of concerned lawyers of Nigeria to determine whether the said certificate is authentic or not. In any case, the INEC doesnt have the powers to effect such delegation even if it desires to. What then is the interest or locus of this group? I strongly suspect that they are jobbers for the PDP. If they claim that they are persuing the matter as a public interest issue, I ask them further where were they when the government committed a serial breach of the constitution by promoting corruption and sheilding Ministers and other top govt functionaries from prosecution even after credible panels of investigation produced very weighty evidence that can sustain a conviction in a court of law? Where were they when the basic and fundamental rights of multitudes of Nigerians are being breached by the govt on daily basis? May be these are not matters of public interest enough to attract the concern of concerned lawyers of Nigeria. It may be that the group has not come to existence when these things were happening and by a stroke of providence,the group only came to being when the issue of GMBs secondary school became topical and viral. Let us assume that the said certificate was forged or contain some elements of forgery (which is unlikely ) and the group desires to challenge it, as lawyers is the NTA the proper forum to lodge the complain? The principle of compliance with due process of the law requires that such complaints should be lodged with the statutory authorities empowered by the law to recieve such complaints, investigate and prosecute where there is a prima facie evidence that an offence has been committed. I am utterly disappointed that a group of lawyers who have expressed concern on such a serious matter will chose to disregard the procedure laid down by the law for ventilating grievances and adopt the path usually implored by politicians to make a public show of a matter that should if need be, decided by a court of law. What stops the concerned lawyers from going to a court of law instead of trying GMB in the court of the press? Let us not lose sight of the fact that the certificate was submitted to INEC and INEC did not raise any issue of authenticity regarding the document and that is the body empowered by the constitution to determine the educational qualification of candidates for the election . If INEC is satisfied with GMBs secondary school certificate that rests the matter. Any person aggrieved or as in this case concerned by INECs decision, can only challenge it in a court of competent jurisdiction and I am not sure this group can even have the locus to challenge INECs decision, unless they are a party to the election petition the Pdp may file in the presidential election tribunal. Or does the electoral Act or other extant laws on election petition provide for the joinder of parties who were not candidates in an election petition? I may be wrong, may be they have the brief of the pdp on the matter or they are procured to perform a political consultancy instead of a legal function. The fact still remains that those who are after GMBs secondary school certificate are only chasing shadows. The concerned lawyers of Nigeria should concern themselves with matters of public interest that affect the lives and liberties of vulnerable Nigerians and stop medling in matters of political controversy; so as not to send the wrong signals to the society that lawyers could be procured to handle political briefs disguised as a professiinal legal briefs.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 22:09:03 +0000
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