The Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Musa Aliyu has once again reiterated the critical need for legal practitioners to be ethical in their conduct.
Speaking at the official launch of a legal-oriented publication, Ungogo Bar Voice in Kano, the ICPC chairman said the publication is more than just a scholarly journal.
He said the magazine serves as a platform for professional reflection, engagement, and a reform instrument.
Aliyu charged participants to reflect on the direction of the legal profession and added that day by the day, public perception of the legal practice is being shaped by what practitioners do or fail to do.
He noted that ethics, which is known as the bedrock of the legal profession, is now facing threats from rising allegations of professional misconduct and complicity in acts that undermine the very system practitioners swore to defend.
Aliyu reminded the audience of his belief that lawyers are not just advocates, but are, in all senses of reality, gatekeepers of justice.
The ICPC boss stated that lawyers must not allow themselves to become instruments of impunity under the guise of legal representation; hence, the huge intellectual engagement offered by the publication being launched.
He further called for a push to encourage legal academics and practitioners within the branch, for sustained scrutiny of decisions emanating from courts in Kano State and beyond.
Aliyu further charged legal practitioners and judges to strive to do their very best in advancing the course of justice for posterity, adding that with Artificial Intelligence making inroads, submissions and decisions by counsel and judges will soon become globally accessible at the world’s fingertips.
Speaking further, the ICPC boss said lawyers must prioritise reform in legal education and ethics, public interest law as well as digital literacy must become core components in training the next generation of lawyers.
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He said in the light of recent judgments particularly the Supreme Court’s decision on local government autonomy, legal practitioners must defend the doctrine of judicial precedent.
Another legal luminary, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, reminded participants that while court judgments are subject to scrutiny, personal attacks on judges that cross ethical lines have become a recurrent occurrence.
Ozekhome urged that the focus of criticism should be on judgments and not the judges and added that energy should be deployed to advance justice and not to undermine it.
Another dignitary at the event, Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, urged legal academics and practitioners to constructively critique judicial decisions.
She urged legal practitioners to align with strengthening jurisprudence and giving unwavering support to legal reform.
(Editor: Okechukwu Eze)
