The Presidency has condemned the attempts by a lawyer, Mr. Nnamdi Nwokocha, to prejudice public opinion against President Muhammadu Buhari over his alleged lack of certificate by declaring the President guilty on the pages of newspapers.

Reacting to Nwokocha’s media interviews, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said it was unfair for a lawyer, who is a litigant to a case in court, to hijack the power of a judge by declaring the President guilty of what he is accused of.

The presidential aide noted that newspaper pages were not the alternatives to the courts where a lawyer could declare anybody guilty of any allegation, especially when the court had not formally given a judgment on the matter before it.

“The interview splashed on pages 56 and 57 of ThisDay on Saturday, June 11t, breaches a lawyer’s ethical code. We hope that the court and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) will take notice of this,” Shehu said.

According to him, any lawyer who sincerely believes in judicial process and the rights of other parties to a case will not engage in an inappropriate and unprofessional practice of trial by media.

Shehu said it was appalling that Nwokocha openly declared the President guilty, when the court had not made same declaration.

The presidential aide noted that gag orders emerged in the United States of America (U.S.A) because of lawyers’ inappropriate conduct of trying and convicting people on the pages of newspapers or the court of public opinion.

He said free speech was not synonymous with recklessness and wanton abuse of the rights of other parties in a court case.

Shehu said: “The litigant’s unabashed claim that he was a card-carrying member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which lost power in the last election, clearly indicates a scheme that seeks power by circumventing the democratic process of elections.”

The presidential aide noted that if Nwokocha failed to stop his abuse of free speech, the President’s competent team of lawyers would use the law in dealing with his unethical actions.

He added that no-one should be a litigant and be a judge at the same time.

sauce: http://thenationonlineng.net/presidency-threatens-sue-lawyer-buharis-certificate/