Barrister Imeh Atang Jnr is a firebrand legal practitioner, principal partner/head of practice at Goldcrest Law Firm (Atang & Associates), Uyo.
A lawyer of long-standing practice and dispassionate social commentator, Atang speaks on the emergence of the New Nigerian Bar Association, the various problems bedevilling the progress of the country and the possible way forward in this interview with Crystal Express.
Excerpts.
Let us meet
I am Imeh Atang, a legal practitioner based here in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. I have been in legal practice for a good number of years as a private legal practitioner. I’m also a keen observer of the environment which we live in, especially the socio-economic and political environment around us. To that extent, once in a while, when called upon to share my opinion on issues, I do so dispassionately. So I am also a social commentator even though no man is an island.
How has it been practising your legal profession here in Uyo against bigger cities like Lagos and Abuja?
The practice has not been what it ought to be, but it is well known that in this country, we have been in doldrums for quite some years now. That is not to say that practising in a place like Uyo is quite a blanket or putting a ceiling in your profession. It is not, as it all depends on your mindset. You can achieve quite a lot irrespective of your base and I don’t see my base in Uyo as an obstacle to the goals or aims I have set for myself. So over the years, we have made some modest impact. We may not have achieved what we have set out to achieve but we have gotten a fair deal from providence.
Your professional body- the Nigeria Bar Association -recently got enmeshed in politics that balkanized the body with the emergence of the New Nigeria Bar Association. As a member, how do you think the matter can be resolved?
Generally speaking, as a stakeholder and member of the NBA, I won’t be wrong if I say that the NBA is not what it ought to be. There are so many misgivings among the members on the direction of the body and what appears to be the impotency and absolute nonchalance of the NBA to the general welfare of lawyers. NBA collects fees from all the members into their coffers, but sometimes you sit back to reflect on the benefits accruing from your membership and investments you have made over the years and discover none. Most times as a lawyer of over 10 years at the bar, whether you get involved in their activities or not, there is no how you will not spend about N50,000 to the NBA as fees and other payments but get nothing in return.
NBA has failed to look at the billing system because those who run the NBA are aloof from the general pulse of the membership, especially the young lawyers who are yet to find their feet in the profession. The people in power do not care about the welfare of the generality of others.
The NBA has not been very sensitive to the needs of the larger majority of its membership population. So to that extent, the NBA has failed. There is another critical aspect where the NBA has not lived up to expectation and from my perspective and opinion I believe a lot of people share, the NBA has not lived up to the general responsibility of influencing governmental policy like it used to do in the past during the days of Aka Bashorun, Priscilla Kuye under military dictatorship.
Then the NBA was a force to reckon with as far as the direction of national policy was concerned and even though they were living then under the jackboot of the military. So the NBA has failed. We were in this country when sitting chief justice of the country was disgraced out of the office and we didn’t hear any coherent or strong voice from the NBA, which was a shame. The NBA ought to have spoken.
It could be because the authorities had weighed the NBA and found the leadership to be spineless, so they decided to do what they did and got away with it. I am not sure what happened to Justice Walter Onnoghen under the so-called democratic rule could have happened to any of the chief justices of Nigeria under the military dictatorship with the likes of Gani Fawehinmi, Priscilla Kuye, Aka Bashorun and even Femi Falana in the NBA.
These were people who spoke the hearts of the people of Nigeria and were able to imprint the imprimatur of the NBA in the social consciousness of this country. Then lawyers were respected but today if you go to the police station, nobody seems to take the lawyers’ service anymore.
This is because the NBA of today has not been able to take lawyers in the direction it ought to take them. To that extent, the NBA has failed woefully. But as to whether balkanizing the NBA is the solution to the problem, I will say that it is another kettle of fish. The New Nigerian Bar Association cannot be a solution to the problem. It is a reactionary group and it is pivoted on very wrong sentiments such as tribal sentiments. There is no denying the influence of rogue politicians in the entire imbroglio.
If you can balkanize or sow schisms in a national association because a political figure who happens to come from your area has been disinvited based on disaffection concerning his style of governance; if they can for such reason break an association, then we still have a long way to go in the country. It is not only in Nigeria but it is done all over the world that once there is public disapproval of a public figure’s conduct, associations disassociate from such people or person just to serve as a deterrent to those who might have the proclivity to toe the same line.
So to that extent, I do not think that lawyers, if at all they have the interest of the profession at heart, should pander to the whims and caprices of political players in our polity. It is high time we disassociated from them and ensure that our association is driven by genuine aspirations. To that extent, the formation of the NNBA, though has brought to the fore issues that the mother NBA may be floundering, to my mind, is not the solution to the problem. I think the solution to the problem should not have ethnic colouration.
The NNBA appears to be just a sectional body. A group of northern lawyers seem to be challenging the national body based on what was done to a northern politician. That is ridiculous. It would have been understandable if they had come up to say that the NBA is no longer serving their interest, the interest of a good section of the membership; that they do not care about the welfare of lawyers.
We have had cases of lawyers being brutalized, embarrassed and driven out of police stations which have gone viral with video evidence, but most times without a single statement from the NBA to protect the lawyers.
We have had situations lawyers have issues with some rogue politicians, police, D.S.S and other security agencies and the matter brought to the judges and they failed to live above board in ensuring justice, regardless of the positions of those who have been complained against. What happened to Justice Walter Onnoghen is a call to duty for our judges to see that when you condone injustice in any way, eventually the chickens will come home to roost.
What goes around comes around. Outside lawyers, judges are now also being manhandled to show that nobody can absolve itself from the impending danger. We have to be steadfast in what we are doing whether as lawyers or judges. The NBA has failed in this regard and I think it is time it picked the gauntlet, especially with the coming into office of the new executive led by Mr Akpata, who took over from Paul Usoro (SAN).
This is the first time in a long while we have a non-SAN as the president. Lawyers are beginning to see the club of the SANs who have monopolized the presidency of the association for a long time as becoming more of the problem than the solution. It was also becoming an oligarchy club of senior and powerful citizens who just get in there, cosy up to the authorities and do nothing. We are expecting something better from Olumide Akpata who has succeeded to turn the tide against the SANs. It is not us against them. We appreciate the SANs because we aspire to be, if not SANs, but as successful as they are. We do not denigrate the SANs but we think the Bar has rightly chosen by electing a non-SAN to give him a chance to uphold the interest of the generality of the members of the bar and address the problems plaguing the bar as a priority.
We expect the Olumide Akpata-led executive to identify all these problems and give a surgical approach or nip them in the bud. He may not be able to solve all the problems but at least he can take care of some of the grievances. No matter what may be the outrage against the factionalisation of the NBA by the NNBA, beneath the El Rufai issue, there are deeper issues that might have created the lack of sense of belonging in these people. So Akpata has to engage them in dialogue and encourage them that they are needed in the one united NBA.
They should stop comparing our NBA to what happens in the USA, where we have various associations. There are different law schools in the USA but we have a single law school in Nigeria, so there is no need for comparison. Their situations over there may not suit our peculiar problems down here in Nigeria. I think it is up to Olumide Akpata to show leadership and maturity at the moment in handling their grievances. If it is beyond the political smokescreen, then he should be able to address the grievances for a more inclusive NBA.
Talking about the former Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen who was disgraced out of office, what could have led to the sudden dumbness of the NBA on the matter? Was the association coerced, subdued or compromised?
Well, I am seriously bothered how the NBA became so docile, nonengaging with the authorities. It has to do with the general problem of corruption and lack of principles plaguing our nation. The professionals, outside earning a living to themselves, have a more sublimed duty of protecting the society at large to ensure that there is economic and social justice to all Nigerians from all walks of life.
However, when a professional is weak in character or allows themselves to be compromised one way or the other, it might affect the way they respond to the responsibilities conferred on them by their association, especially how they discharge the functions as a person. I think that is what has happened to the NBA and its leadership. We have a crop of lawyers who have become neck-deep in unholy alliances with political actors maybe by working for them in their professional capacities but doing it without regards to the norms and ethics of the profession. Maybe you are representing a political actor in election petitions and you allow yourself to be used to launder money or allow yourself to get involved in carrying out a transaction that will become questionable in the eyes of the law, you will just render yourself vulnerable to the manipulations of these politicians and their opponents.
I think that is what has plagued the NBA leadership. A lot of them have been engrossed in unholy alliances in such a way that it will be difficult for you to say that their moral principles have been left intact. So if you find yourself in that condition, it will be difficult for you to speak the truth to the authorities. For instance, if the intelligence agencies have materials on you that you have tried to bribe a judge to give judgment in favour of your client that is death, it takes away from you the moral authority to speak against corrupt practices.
Abuse of power is corruption in itself but if you are not clear on how you source or earn your wealth, then you lack the moral pedestal to stand to ask pertinent questions. What made the likes of Gani Fawehinmi a hero was because the authorities couldn’t lay hands on anything to nail him. Lawyers should strive as much as possible to live above board so that they can have the credentials and earn the qualifications to speak to the authorities in this country. That was the dilemma of the NBA then. I won’t want to call names to avoid dragging anybody’s name in the mud and earn some reprimand by way of the suit in the law court.
However, if you go through media archives, you will find out that those who ought to have spoken have had their fingers burnt one way or the other because of their dealings with some of these politicians. Politicians are good in propaganda. They are blackmailers who make use of dirty tools as an instrument of power to get their way. So I think to a large extent that dampens the bravery of the leadership of the NBA. That is why there are firebrands like Aka Bashorun, Prescillia Kuye and Gani Fawehinmi who was not in the leadership but a strong member of the NBA and sometimes always at loggerheads because he promoted the interest of justice above his fellowship with NBA. He was subjugated to the interest of truth and justice to the Nigerian people.
Are you worried that the social activists who championed the ‘Occupy Nigeria’ just in 2014, lamenting bad governance are nowhere to be found now when what they canvassed against are now worse than then?
This is a very relevant question. I think the major problems Africans have, not just Nigerians are not looking at issues dispassionately; which is one factor that has set us backwards. We see issues, whether national or continental, from the prisms of ethnicity, tribal or sectional backgrounds or sometimes through the prism of primordial interest.
For instance, embezzlement is very wrong; misappropriation of public funds is a crime and does not matter if my friend is the perpetrator or the culprit. And if I am dispassionate on issues, then I will condemn it no matter my relationship with whoever runs afoul of the law. Once you bring in ethnic colouration, especially if we are from the same ethnic group, you will see it as an opportunity to have my share to help myself to own a portion of the national cake.
You won’t at that point consider the fact that what is happening has impoverished the masses and messed up people’s fortunes; that the actions have affected provisions of basic social amenities to the populace and have the tendency to worsen their living condition.
These categories of people are worse criminals than even the night marauders or gun-totting robbers but it doesn’t matter to those blinded by ethnicity or tribal sentiments because those exploiting the situation are from the same geographical area or share an ethnic affinity. That is the bane of Africans- senseless attachment to ethnic cleavages and tribal interest.
The ‘Occupy Nigeria’ people may have spoken against the past government because they believed that the leader came from that part of the country that ordinarily ought not to have been in authority and as owners of the country, he should be hounded out of power. I think that was the scenario then. That described the psyche of Nigerians that were hell-bent on removing the administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan. You can see that the issues they raised then in power could be thought to have been dispassionate but those issues persist in this administration and have worsened.
Unemployment has worsened. Even before the pandemic, the country had been driven aground economically. The country has gone into recession, the economic indices are in the red, the public debt profile skyrocketed, and these same people are not talking. The same people criticizing the petroleum subsidy are no longer talking even when petroleum subsidy is still here. It betrays the hypocrisy of the stand of the so many so-called social activists.
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It betrays the fact that they are not genuine in their avowed pursuit of justice and that they had an ulterior motive to their opposition against that government. They are now dumb and silent since their project of removing that government from power succeeded, or is it because they are the ones that enthroned the incumbent administration?
This is one of the reasons we are still backwards developmentally as people. If we are to play down on ethnic bias and rely more on competence, justice, equity and fairness in our dealings, we will make more progress. Regrettably, all that happened then under the so-called social critics and activists were just pure hypocrisy.
Security remains paramount to every nation. How do you rate security today in Nigeria?
Security is one of the parameters for assessing the performance of every administration. But the current administration has failed in that regard and I don’t know where they get the courage to face Nigerians because these were a set of people who promised to stamp out Boko Haram and terrorism out of the country in a short time but five years plus in power, the problem has worsened. We hear all sorts of lies like they have degraded the group; they have technically defeated it and all manner of his fueling a popular adage here that it is easier to tell lies using the English Language.
Funny enough when people use high sounding adjectives in English like the authorities in Nigeria do at times, it is to shroud their dishonesty. They have failed to provide security for Nigerians. It is a sore thumb that sticks out in their conscience because they drove out a government which appeared to be striving on the promise that they are going to do better but have they done better? I leave that to Nigerians to answer. Take a look at Nigeria, the streets are killing fields and slaughter slabs for ritualists and murderers. The highways are completely unsafe.
You have battles with unmotorable roads which are car-killers and before you could slow down on the next pothole, you will be confronted by a gun-totting ritualist or robber pointing a gun at you. It is high time he took responsibility for the revenging of the spirit of his country. The country is dying. Look at a man like the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Mr Sowere, who was a celebrity when Jonathan was removed in 2015 from office, has faced himself.
He has now seen a government that does not tolerate alternate opinion. We have allowed politicians to kill democracy in the country. How come the NBA fared better under the military than during democracy? The politicians have capitalized on the collective amnesia of the Nigerian populace because we easily forget our past. This country went through a terrible civil war and yet we have not shown that we have learnt any lesson. This country went through a military dictatorship in the past where somebody who won the presidency was robbed of the victory and incarcerated to death. But we now have politicians behaving as if it has always been rosy but do not know that history can repeat itself and the second time might be more disastrous. I think it is incumbent on Nigerians to go beyond being armchair critics. They should be a collective pool of public consciousness and action. The situation is bad and alarming.
Do you think the ongoing forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) will bring the interventionist agency to give Niger Deltans the development it could not give them in 20 years of its existence?
The NDDC matter is a very vexed issue. Unfortunately, the NDDC has become a bastion of corruption. Just imagine the drama that took place between the supervising minister and the former managing director of the NDDC, Ms Joy Nunieh. It was quite unfortunate and tends to trivialize the problems of the Niger Delta people. The Niger Delta people are some of the most cheated people in any part of the world. The bulk of what has been used to develop the country and what has been used to feed the squandermania rogue leadership and political class came from the NDDC. The worst is that the more the resources are extracted, it takes a toll on the environment, it takes a toll on the ecosystem and the people are the biggest losers with the loss of ecosystem, the aquatic environment and have nothing to show for the oil being drilled in their environment. A country like the United Arab Emirates comparatively has fewer resources than what God has deposited in the Niger Delta but you have seen what the Arabs have made in that country. It is close to an El-dorado, a kingdom of gold, in arid desert terrain. But here we have a corrupt political class in collaboration with criminally minded multinational companies, extracting the resources of the Niger Delta for about 60 years now with nothing to show for it. We still have the poorest of the poor population in the world in the Niger Delta; with people living below a dollar in a day and dying of avoidable and curable diseases, suffering from harsh environmental degradation and pollution and losing their means of livelihood in agriculture and fishing as a result of the exploration and exploitation of their environment of the resources in their locality.
So when the Federal Government came up with the Oil and Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), we thought it would bring a solution to our problems. I guess it achieved very little before it metamorphosed into NDDC which we learnt the corruption going on there has been mind-boggling. The level of corruption there is disheartening and the corruption is being perpetuated by Niger Deltans. The leadership of the country watch as our local political actors pilfer and embezzle funds earmarked to ameliorate the difficulties confronting the Niger Delta people and fight among themselves. I think beyond overhauling the intervention agency, there should be an adequate probe of the activities of the agency from inception; there should be no sacred cows. The idea of the supervising minister of NDDC to carry out forensic report is not out of place but regrettably, it has been enmeshed in a credibility crisis and like we say in law, justice is not only needed to be done but has not to be seen to have been done. The processes that have been taken so far have been mired in a lot of controversies such that it will inspire confidence in the hearts of the people of Niger Delta and Nigerian stakeholders. So to that extent, I think what is needed is a probe beyond the supervision of the Ministry of Niger Delta. The intention of the Hon. Minister may be noble but having gone through all these controversies, is off course. We know that at times while fighting corruption, it fights back. If you want to catch a thief with connection, it can come after you but we must allow confidence into our system with the encouragement of internationally renowned auditing firms to go through the entire records of the NDDC since inception. Note that even when the right thing is done through the minister, it will still be tainted by the tussle witnessed between the supervising minister and Nunieh, the former managing director’s saga. So my take is that there should be a forensic audit managed outside the Ministry of Niger Delta.
What is your take on the performances of state electoral commissions across the country with only the party in power in each state clearing every office during her local government elections?
It is very funny. The more the governors abuse the powers granted them under the constitution to feather their nest, the greater disservice they are doing to Nigeria’s democracy, self-determination or restructuring of the country. The more you abuse the institutions under your control as a state governor, the more you do damage to the argument that we need to decentralize power in this country and nothing has done more damage to that demand more than the way the governors have extorted control or influence the activities at state electoral commissions.
Local government elections are not done in this country. I have been involved in elections tribunals and I know how these things are done. What is done is a complete sham to elections. The politicians don’t even hide it but only say the person the governor wants emerges and not whom the people want. It is a comedy of the absurd. I think we are not ripe for some of these things. Like the state police, the way the actors managing our states now have handled these issues have discouraged the continuation of discussion bothering on the restructuring of power in the country. The state electoral commissions are just shambolic assemblage to feather the nest of whoever finds himself in the office as governor. For us to have a credible election at a local government level, it has to be organized by a more central body that is a bit removed from the influence of the state chief executives. The state electoral commissions are mere appendages of government houses and can never serve the interest of the people. The earlier we scrapped them, the better for the growth of democracy.
