Angry NBA demands Gov Umahi apology, retraction

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Wednesday demanded an immediate apology from EbonyiGovernor Dave Umahi following his harsh reaction to a Federal High Court judgment ordering him and his deputy’s removal from office.

It also demanded a retraction of Umahi’s “offensive” comments.
The NBA, in a statement by its President Olumide Akpata, described the Governor’s comments attacking the judiciary as “disgraceful, undemocratic and completely unacceptable.”

On Tuesday, Justice Inyang Ekwo of the court’s Abuja division ordered the removal of Umahi and his deputy, Eric Igwe, over their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

But Umahi declined to vacate the office, saying the court order was “null and void”.

Describing the judgment as a “sham”, Umahi accused Justice Ekwo, of doing a “hatchet job”.

“Nobody can remove me as the governor of the state as we know where the judgment came from,” he was quoted as saying.

But in its statement, the NBA said it was utterly dismayed by the Umahi’s “unfortunate and totally unacceptable” reaction to the judgment.

Akpata said: “Following the judgment, Engr. Umahi, in the course of a press conference – video evidence of which is currently making the rounds on both new and mainstream media threw caution to the wind and deployed very uncomplimentary adjectives and intemperate language in characterising both the Judgment and Hon. Justice Ekwo, including but not limited to describing the judgment as ‘jungle justice’ and His Lordship as ‘a a hatchet man’.

“As if these were not enough, Engr. Umahi accused the court of ‘murdering justice’ and also arrogated to himself the judicial powers and magisterial authority to declare the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction as null and void while unashamedly declaring his intention to disregard the judgment in favour of another.
“To put it plainly, this is impunity of the highest order and executive rascality taken too far.”

He explained that while the NBA has “absolutely no interest in the outcome of the case in question and will continue to stay away from partisan politics, it is inconceivable that this Association that is charged with upholding the rule of law and defending the judiciary would sit idly by in the face of this unprovoked and totally unwarranted attack on the Judiciary.”

Akpata said the leadership of the NBA had been inundated with calls from well-meaning Nigerians who were outraged by Umahi’s utterances and had demanded that appropriate action be taken to protect the sanctity of the Judiciary.

He said: “It is for this reason that we condemn without equivocation, Engr. Umahi’s unfortunate diatribe which, if it had emanated from an average litigant, would still have been regarded as shocking but coming from one who occupies the exalted office of a State Governor, is nothing short of a national embarrassment.

“In the wake of the judgment, one would have expected Engr. Umahi to sue for calm from his supporters and to assure them that all legal and constitutional avenues would be explored to challenge the Judgment. For H.E. Engr. Umahi to instead resort to attacking and denigrating the high office of a Judge in this unprecedented manner is disgraceful, undemocratic and completely unacceptable.

“As Kayode Eso, JSC of blessed memory famously noted, ‘[t]he essence of the rule of law is that it should never operate under the rule of force or fear.’

“We view Engr. Umahi’s reaction to this judgment as being consistent with the current penchant, on the part of those in the executive arm of government, for intimidating the Judiciary whilst taking advantage of the historical reluctance of that arm of government to rise to its own defence.

“In light of the foregoing, the NBA hereby demands an immediate apology from H.E. Engr. Dave Umahi and a retraction of the comments he made against the person and judgment of the Hon. Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court. It is also our demand that this apology and retraction be given as much media coverage as the press conference where the unfortunate comments were made.”