Nigerian Bar Association immediate past President Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN)
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Friday rejected President Muhammadu Buhari’s comment that national security takes precedence over the rule of law.
The President had made the comment while declaring open the 58th Annual General Conference of the NBA on Sunday.
The conference, on Friday, culminated in the inauguration of NBA’s new President, Paul Usoro, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and other newly elected national officers of the association.
In its communiqué, which it issued at the end of the conference on Friday, the association said it rejected Buhari’s comment, insisting that the rule of law was central to democracy.
It added that national security must be managed within the parameters of the rule of law.
The NBA communiqué, signed by its immediate past President and General Secretary, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), and Abiola Olagunju, demanded that the government and the citizenry must always obey court order in compliance with the principle of the rule of law.
The communique read in part, “The conference completely rejects the presidential statement subordinating the rule of law to national security. The NBA restates that the rule of law is central to a democracy and any national security concerns by the government must be managed within the perimeters and parameters of the rule of law.
“As a corollary, conference frowns upon the present growing trend whereby government decides on which court orders to obey.
“The court has exclusive duty under a democratic dispensation to interpret the Constitution and other laws, and government and the citizenry must comply with court orders at all times until set aside.”
The NBA also called for a budgetary arrangement that allows for funds to be directly allocated to the judiciary at federal and state levels in order to guarantee the independence of the judiciary.
The association rejected the Federal Government’s Executive Order Six, which directs prosecuting and investigating agencies to take steps to ensure assets linked to pending criminal cases are temporarily forfeited.