‘YOUR LAW WEEK THEME IS APT,’ TAIDI TELLS NBA IKEJA BRANCH

GOODWILL MESSAGE TO NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION IKEJA BRANCH ON HER 2022 LAW WEEK

It is with great delight that I felicitate with the Chairman, Executive and Planning Committees as well as the entire members of the Nigerian Bar Association Ikeja Branch on her 2022 Law Week with the theme: “2023: Looking Backwards To Move Forward.”

There is a common African saying that “God created eyes in front so we can always look forward rather than backwards.”

However, as the great Chinua Achebe said, “We must know where the rain began to beat us in order to know where we dried our body.” In other words, it is only by examining the past that we are able to take stock and measure our progress in every endeavour.

Therefore, the choice of this theme is remarkably creative and apt and like the roar of a lion, quite a wake up call in view of the approaching general elections scheduled for 2023.

The recent primary elections of the major political parties, which was brazenly “dollarized,” was a huge embarrassment to our democratic journey.

Of great concern is the supervision of these carnivals by various national agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices are Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Department of State Services (DSS) and other similar bodies which have, at their disposal, the facilities and manpower to check these excesses, but chose to look the other way.

It is impossible to make any meaningful progress when we fail to examine the issues that continue to take us backwards in this same journey where other countries with less potentials have recorded tremendous growth.

I challenge all participants at this event to put on their thinking cap and help discover the ways out of our regressive quargmire as a nation.

This indeed will be the greatest gift in our quest for national rebirth.

May we all be counted as part of the solution as we share very meaningful exchanges on this august occasion.

I wish you all a memorable and beneficial law week.

Jonathan Gunu Taidi, Esq.
Candidate for NBA President

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‘HOW I WAS BULLIED BY ICPC OVER CLIENT’S PETITION AGAINST NCC,’ BY LAWYER

A Lagos based lawyer, Mr. James Ononiwu of Whitedove Solicitors has told CITY LAWYER how he was “bullied” by operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

An SOS which trended on social media earlier today read: “James Obianuju Ononiwu, Principal partner of Whitedove Solicitors, arrested on the strength of a Complaint by the PA to the DG of NCC over a Petition he wrote for his client COSON.”

Narrating his ordeal to CITY LAWYER, Ononiwu said that “It was tough today with them but they eventually let me go but insisted I go to their headquarters in Abuja.”

He confirmed that his arrest was in connection with a petition he wrote on behalf of his client, the Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), adding: “They tried to bully me but I resisted and I also tried to bully them.

“They said I wrote a petition against someone that they investigated and found to be false. I told them I wrote the petition on behalf of my clients and that there was no reason to arrest me, that they should arrest the client if they found out that the information was false. But they refused.

“They didn’t read my rights to me; the next thing they said was that they will not let me go until I meet one stringent bail condition. I then asked them if I was under arrest; they said ‘Yes.’

“I further asked them to show me the petition I wrote that brought me to ICPC but they didn’t have it. They now said I had to be taken to Abuja to answer questions. I refused to write any statement or anything.”

On how he was let off the hook, the lawyer said: “They asked me to go but should report at the headquarters on another day they would send to me.”

Though the commission could not be reached for comment at press time, the incident may be viewed as a dent on the commission, especially since the advent of its Chairman, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye SAN who has brought many reforms to the anti-graft agency.

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