Abuja — The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) yesterday took a swipe at the rule of law policy of President Umaru Yar'Adua, saying the issue should go beyond rhetorics.

It also flayed the abysmal use of plea bargaining which it said would retard the war against corruption.

The association has also indicated its preparedness to convene a rule of law summit in a bid to chart a course for the place of the rule of law in the country.

The NBA President, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), who spoke while inaugurating five action groups of the association in Abuja yesterday said there are so many aspects of it which the government abandoned.

Akeredolu said the NBA would soon convene a summit to have a roadmap on rule of law.

"Rule of law is not what you just talk about in mouth. It is far more than that. We know is the mantra of this administration, coincidentally before he came in, we have had reforms in NBA to see that our own motto is the rule of law. Rule of law is not just obeying the rule of courts. There are so many aspects of it which this administration is not paying attention to. That is why we said we are going to convoke the rule of law summit in which we will come out with the parameter of what we believe is the rule of law. What is the minimum requirement we must comply with," he said.

Although he commended the judiciary on the fight against corruption, the NBA President noted that the abysmal use of plea bargaining by the government, if not checked could kill the fight against corruption.

"The only problem is plea bargaining. That is not with the judiciary. It is between the accused persons and the prosecutors. It has not been treated the way it should be treated in the few cases that they have used it. So the judges, prosecutors and other stakeholders must sit together on how to go about it and the use of it. That is the only problem I have", Akeredolu said.

On the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Presidential Election Appeal, he said the country will be better for it with the two different judgments of four to three.

"We are happy about the development because we now have before all of us two judgment; it is a good development at least for this country we have a judgment of four to three. It is more or less a hanging judgment. The important is that we have taken a bold step forward I think we are making a progress", he added.

The groups inaugurated are: the rule of law action group, legislative advocacy, working group, building committee, conference planning committee and welfare committee.

Akeredolu urged the various committee chairmen to show purposeful leadership to achieve desired results as spelt out in their terms of references.

The rule of law action group chaired by Chief Femi Falana would focus on key justice sector reform issues including; access to justice, human rights, anti corruption, freedom of information and independence of the judiciary and the legal profession.

It would also engage federal government on the meaning, scope and relevance of its rule of law agenda, visit detention places, monitor and advise on compliance with court orders especially with regard to liberty of the individual.