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The Nigeria Bar
Association (NBA) has said the suspension of the Senior Advocate of
Nigeria title of former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of
Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, did not follow due process saying it was
ordered by the wrong body. It, therefore, called for the reversal of
the decision.

The body, in a
statement signed by its president, Joseph Bodunrin Daudu, the statutory
body responsible for such disciplinary measures is the Legal
Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) and not the Legal
Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC), which issued the suspension.

Mr. Aondoakaa was
last week stripped of the title for a period of six months pending the
determination of a petition on his misconduct while he was the nation’s
chief law officer between 2007-2009.

On the argument
that the privileges committee possess powers to remove its appointees
from office, just as it is empowered to appoint, the NBA stated that
the Legal Practitioners Act, under the maxim Generalia Specialibus non
derogant, displaces ‘the general’ as it “does not envisage a
withdrawal, removal or suspension of the rank of Senior Advocate of
Nigeria” citing Section 5-(1)-(8) and 6 of the Legal Practitioners Act.

The association
stated that the rank of SAN is a leadership position, conferred only on
persons who have shown exemplary character and, consequently it can
only be taken away where another statutory body, the Legal
Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, adjudges the person accused of
infamous conduct or breach of any of the rules of professional conduct.

The NBA president
said the LPPC, notwithstanding its eminent membership, “cannot and is
not equipped to deal with matters of discipline.”

He added that the
LPPC’s foray into “looking at matters of the discipline of a lawyer
under the guise of suspending a person of the rank of SAN is ultra
vires, illegal, unconstitutional and therefore null and void.”

Error in procedure

The NBA also argued that the LPPC’s action against Mr Aondoakaa was pre-emptive as the petition is yet be to adjudged.

Mr Daudu said a
petition is a mere allegation which carries with it the presumption
that the object is presumed innocent until proven guilty. He said it is
condemnable to punish a person with the full weight of the law, such as
suspension or temporary stripping of the rank of SAN and public odium
attached to it and at the same time admit that the petition has not
been proven.

“We stand for the
promotion of the Rule of Law and regardless of the personality of the
person involved herein, we cannot acquiesce to a situation where a
person, legal practitioner and senior advocate is punished even before
the allegations are established against him, moreso by a body that
clearly has no jurisdiction to inquire into matters of alleged breach
of professional ethics,” the NBA president said.

“Unless and until the laws are changed, the power to discipline a
legal practitioner, silk and non silk alike, is vested exclusively in
the LPDC” the statement read.