Jude Igbanoi and Kayode Ketefe
1 June 2009
Lagos — For 30 years the Nigerian Institute of Advanced legal Studies provided pristine training for lawyers and lawmakers in essential areas of law at advanced level. NIALS has kept faith with this mandate over these years and it has grown from a fledgling academic enclave to its present status equivalent to a post-graduate law training institution and a world class research institution.
Democracy Day 'Gift'
Events at the Institute last week were as intriguing as they were controversial. The crux of the controversy is the unceremonious removal of the erstwhile Director-General of the Institute, Professor Ameze Guobadia. Her removal which was linked to the lecture delivered by one of Nigeria's leading authorities on Constitutional Law, Professor Ben Nwabueze SAN, was seen by some as one of this administration's Democracy Day 'gifts' to the legal community.
In a swift reaction however, the Nigerian Bar Association has asked the Federal Government to immediately reinstate the sacked Director-General while describing her removal as a dent on the rule of law.
Guobadia was recently relieved of her job before the expiration of her term in office by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minster of Justice, Mr. Mike Aondoakaa SAN.
The Federal Government had also announced the appointment of the Professor Epiphany Azinge, SAN in replacement of Guobadia who was appointed to the position in 2003.
She first joined the Institute in 1997 and then served as Director of Studies from 1997 to 2003 when she became the DG. Despite her removal she is however still in the NIALS as a researcher.
NBA's Response
In a swift response the NBA, in a statement titled 'Shenanigans of the Federal Attorney-General' written last Thursday by its President, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu SAN and made available to LAWYER, said the removal of Guobadia was unacceptable.
The body said Guobadia was generally acknowledged to be a competent person who was doing an honest job at the Institute and therefore queried the rationale behind her removal.
It added that the removal of Guobadia smacked of this same hypocrisy and disrespect for the rule of law exhibited in the removal of the former National Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Mrs. Kehinde Ajoni, from office.
The Association further stated that it was a dent on President Yar'Adua's trumpeted rule of law for a fit person like Guobadia to be removed while a 'hugely unpopular and incompetent' person like Professor Maurice Iwu was retained in office under the guise that his tenure had not expired.
It re-affirmed its commitment to the Communiqué issued at the end of its recent National Executive Council in Sokoto where the AGF, Aondoakaa, was roundly condemned for having 'continually undermined the sanctity of his high office through outright acts of gross incompetence and indefensible breaches of the rule of law'.
FG's Greek Gift
The NBA also called on Professor Azinge, whom it described as a respected academic and member of the Inner Bar, not to accept the offer of the office since it was a 'treacherous Greek gift'.
The statement read in part 'The NBA hereby reiterates its communiqué adopted by NEC at Sokoto in May this year to the effect that the Hon. Federal Attorney-General Mike Aondoakaa has continually undermined the sanctity of his high office through outright acts of gross incompetence and indefensible breaches of the Rule of Law.
'The NBA further observes that for the Federal Attorney-General to remove Prof. Guobadia before the expiration of her term while hiding behind the façade of an unexpired tenure to keep the hugely unpopular and incompetent Prof. Iwu in office as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission reeks of double standard hypocrisy and willful shenanigan with the intelligence of Nigerians.
'The NBA thus categorically rejects Professor Guobadia's removal before the end of her tenure and subsequent replacement by Prof. Azinge SAN and demands reversal of these two actions as being inconsistent with government's claims of commitment to the rule of law'.
'Finally, the NBA calls on Prof. Azinge SAN, a respected academic and member of the inner Bar, who has been appointed Director-General in Prof. Guobadia's place to do the honourable thing by rejecting this treacherous Greek gift.
'And for this kind of impunity to take place in statutory bodies where there are legal practitioners, is not only unfortunate but propels the view that the Hon. Federal Attorney-General ought to know better.
'NBA regrets that Professor Guobadia under whom the Institute has just celebrated its anniversary and who is generally acknowledged to be doing an honest job should be removed from office before expiration of her tenure by a Federal Attorney-General who appears to defend mediocrity a la Prof. Iwu and punish excellence. Prof. Guobadia's removal is both regretted and rejected.'
Will Azinge Accept the 'Greek Gift'?
Speaking to LAWYER on his appointment Professor Azinge SAN, said he was ready to take over the reins of control even though he never expected it. He said 'I was pleasantly surprised by the appointment. I did not see it coming; I was not in the picture at all. But I wholly welcome it as a call to national service.
'I am prepared to guard my loins, take up the challenges and devote myself to it so that the vision of the founding fathers of the Institute would be fulfilled. I have since received my letter which indicated I will only spend a single term of five years. I am satisfied with that; it is just like a University Vice-Chancellor who spends a five year single term.
'The supervising minister and the government had what they saw before appointing me and I am prepared to do my best to make my tenure a success'
Like Anjoni, Like Guobadia, Like
In his own reaction on the development the First Vice Chairman of the NBA and the Chairman of the association's Human Rights Institute, Mr. Ikeazor Akaraiwe, also likened the removal of Guobadia to the sacking of Ajoni whose removal he deemed political.
Akaraiwe told LAWYER, 'I need to mention that the reason the Executive Secretary National Human Rights Commission was sacked less than two years into her tenure was over 'honesty.' She did an objective report about the state of human rights in Nigeria and presented to the United Nations.
'The removal of Guobadia was done in the same spirit, it is unacceptable and it is a breach of the rule of law not to talk of breach of contract. This reflects the practice of double standards by the AGF and the government he serves. They used the excuse of tenure to retain Iwu in office but remove Guobadia.
'Let Aondoakaa stop speaking with the both sides of his mouth. Beyond that, Guobadia has been doing a very good job. She is an asset to the government and people of Nigeria; her removal is a disservice to the country.
'NBA therefore demands her immediate reinstatement.'
The Nwabueze Link
Sources informed LAWYER that removal of Guobadia was not unconnected with the lecture delivered two weeks ago by foremost constitutional lawyer, Professor Ben Nwabueze SAN at the Institute.
In his keynote address at the 30th Anniversary Lecture of the Institute which held in Abuja, Nwabueze had scathing remarks for last December's judgment of the Supreme Court which affirmed Yar'Adua's electoral victory at the April 21, 2007 Presidential election by a majority of four to three.
Nwabueze had faulted the judgment of the apex court in the Buhari case against Yar'Adua on the ground that the principles of law relied on to give Yar'Adua victory were based on wrong premises.
He added that Yar'Adua should not have won the election if the justice had been done in the case. 'The Supreme Court erred to have affirmed Yar'Adua's victory', Nwabueze had concluded.
Nwabueze also blamed the current crisis in the Niger Delta region on the inability of the Supreme Court to be truly independent under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
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This Aodonkaa or I dont care fellow is a disgrace to the legal profession. As the NBA said he has exhibited gross incompetence bothering on outright stupidity on several occasions. Every time there is a news item about him he never disappoints by saying or doing something extremely nauseting. God, where does Yaradua get this clowns from. Unfortunately, PDP (People's Destruction Party) is filled with clowns ala the Deputy Chairman that recently berated the US.