Over 250 constitutional and human‑rights lawyers, operating under the Judicial Integrity Lawyers (JILAW), have urged the National Judicial Council to instruct Nigerian courts to disregard cases brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The call was made in the resolutions adopted at the lawyers’ annual conference, themed “Democracy and the Rule of Law,” which took place in Abuja on March 20‑21, 2023.
The lawyers argued that Nigerian courts should only entertain EFCC cases once the commission’s chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has cleared himself of contempt by complying with existing court orders that bind him. In a communiqué issued on Tuesday, JILAW’s newly elected president, Godwin Idoko, stated that the body does not consider Bawa fit to continue leading a law‑enforcement agency that is constitutionally mandated to combat corruption. Idoko warned that a country that disregards court decisions is heading toward anarchy and called on the National Judicial Council to bar courts from hearing any cases filed by government agencies that flout court orders—especially the EFCC—until Bawa has fully obeyed all binding judgments.
Idoko further condemned the paradox of a convicted individual overseeing prosecutions, describing it as a “ridiculous aberration.” He emphasized that a person convicted by a competent court should not be in charge of securing convictions for others, noting that Bawa should be serving a contempt of court sentence rather than directing anti‑corruption efforts.
The communiqué also cautioned politicians against fomenting crises to vent grievances, asserting that sponsoring post‑election unrest would undermine the supremacy clause of the 1999 Constitution (Section 1(2)). The lawyers highlighted the timing of the conference, noting that Nigeria was still grappling with the fallout from recent elections and that critical issues concerning the rule of law in the nation’s “struggling democracy” were being raised.
Idoko recalled that it required direct intervention by President (Retired Major General) Muhammadu Buhari for the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to comply with a Supreme Court judgment on the CBN’s naira redesign policy—a judgment previously ignored before the presidential elections. He added that, to date, the federal government has not fully implemented the court’s ruling on other aspects of the policy, causing continued hardship for Nigerians.
Consequently, the more than 250 JILAW members urged President Buhari, within the remaining time of his administration, to confront the pervasive culture of disobedience to the rule of law, to protect the judiciary from assault, and to ensure appropriate sanctions for those who violate constitutional dictates. Approximately 25 lawyers representing the six geopolitical zones jointly presented the communiqué on behalf of the entire JILAW membership.
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