The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has vowed to launch an investigation into an alleged attempt to bribe a judge of the National Assembly and the State House of Representatives Election Petitions Court in Kano, Flora Azinge.
The association said in a statement on Saturday that its National Executive Committee (NEC) similarly resolved to investigate allegations of sexual assault against Cyril Ndifon, the suspended dean of the University of Calabar Law School, Cross River State.
The Nigerian Bar Association passed resolutions on the issues, among other ethical issues, at its August National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting chaired by its Chairman, Yakubu Maikyau, the statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Akorede Lawal, fixed.
Ms. Azinge, the Kano state election petition judge, had raised the alarm on Tuesday over an attempt by some lawyers to compromise the integrity of judges on his panel that is adjudicating election disputes in Kano.
However, the judge did not reveal the identity of the lawyers allegedly involved in the bribery saga.
The NBA revealed that it had written a letter to Ms. Azinge, requesting more details on the matter.
“You may also be aware of the recent media report on the attempted bribery of Judge Flora Azinge of the National Assembly and the Kano-based State House of Representatives Election Petition Court.
“The NBA, by a later date of August 16, 2023, formally requested Your Honor to provide the NBA with further details in this regard to allow for the investigation of this allegation,” the NBA statement read in part.
Allegations of bribery and judicial manipulation are rife in Nigeria.
In June, a Nigerian senator, Adamu Bulkachuwa, bragged on the floor of parliament that he had influenced the decisions of his wife, Zainab Bulkachuwa, while she was serving as president of the Court of Appeal.
Senator Bulkachuwa and retired judge Bulkachuwa.
An attempt to investigate Mr. Bulkachuwa for his confession by an anti-corruption agency, ICPC, has stalled due to a lawsuit filed by the former senator to halt its investigation.
Panel set up to investigate Don for sex scandal
The NBA has gone a step further in the Ndifon case by establishing a panel to investigate the sex scandal allegations against him.
Ndifon, a law professor, was suspended from his post on Thursday following a protest by law students at the University of Calabar faculty. The students, mostly women, accused him of sexually harassing them.
A video recently surfaced on social media in which dozens of University of Calabar law students, mostly women, held a demonstration to demand the dismissal of Mr. Ndifon for alleged serial sexual assaults against female students.
Although Ndifon denied the accusations.
But the NBA has now formed an ad-hoc committee to investigate the allegations, according to the association’s statement on Saturday.
The investigative committee is made up, according to the statement, by the first vice president of the NBA, Linda Rose Bala; the Assistant Secretary General of the NBA, Mr. Daniel Kip; the president of the NBA Women’s Forum and the president of the Calabar chapter of the NBA.
NBA Refers Suspended Adamawa Election Commissioner And Young Lawyer To LPDC
The association also petitioned the Legal Professionals Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), demanding an investigation into the action of Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the Adamawa State Resident Election Commissioner suspended from INEC.
Mr. Yunusa-Ari was accused of illegally declaring false results in the last Adamawa State gubernatorial election on April 16.
He caused a stir when he illegally declared All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate Aisha Dahiru the winner of the election one day after the supplementary polls.
When he made the statement, the votes were still being counted and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri, was in a clear lead.
But the electoral referee finally declared Fintiri the winner of the polls.
INEC has since suspended and filed criminal charges against Mr. Yunusa-Ari.
Pursuing its determination to instill discipline in lawyers, the NBA has also referred Ifunanya Excel Grant, a young lawyer from Aba Branch in Abia State, to the LPDC for investigation.
Ifunanya is widely known for his eccentric posts through her. social media profilethe baddest lawyer
The NBA said it posts its photos and videos “without clothes and smoking marijuana.”
“While it is important to underscore the fact that none of the lawyers requested or investigated are found guilty of professional misconduct until the LPDC renders its decisions after a fair trial,” the statement said, but Mr. Maikyau, a lawyer Chief of Nigeria (SAN) vowed to rid the profession of ‘rotten eggs’.
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