₦airaland Forum

OUR LAWS AND DEMOCRACY MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL TIMES

The Nigerian Bar Association has closely monitored recent political and legal developments as the nation gradually approaches the 2027 General Elections. These developments, particularly those arising from the interpretation and potential application of provisions of the Electoral Act 2026, raise serious constitutional, democratic, and rule-of-law concerns that require immediate intervention.

We particularly deprecate the disturbing involvement by lawyers and courts in the internal affairs of political parties despite the clear provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026, which stipulates in Section 83 of the Act that “No court in Nigeria shall entertain jurisdiction over any suit or matter pertaining to the internal affairs of a political party.”

Not only are courts denied jurisdiction to entertain any matter pertaining to the internal affairs of a political party, but they are also precluded from granting any interim or interlocutory injunction even where any action has been brought in violation of the Act. The section further provides that “Where such an action is brought in negation of this provision, no interim or interlocutory injunction shall be entertained by the Court, but the Court shall suspend its ruling and deliver it at the stage of final judgment and shall give accelerated hearing to the matter”.

What we now see are situations where actions are not only instituted in Courts by lawyers in clear violation of the Act, but Courts purportedly grant interim and/or interlocutory injunctions in clear contempt of statutory provisions of the law. This does not augur well for our democracy. Democracy will not thrive in a situation where lawyers and courts take actions and decisions that not only negate our laws but also do violence to them. This emerging trend of subverting the clear letters of the Electoral Act and dragging courts into the internal affairs of political parties through disingenuous litigation, forum shopping, and malafide applications designed to secure undemocratic political advantage, bodes no good for our democracy. Such practices, if not immediately curbed, would directly contradict the clear intendment of the Electoral Act and risk transforming the judicial processes into avenues for political score-settling or electoral manipulation.

We must reiterate that these provisions were clearly designed to curb abuse of court processes and discourage forum shopping in political disputes. This is therefore why the NBA is concerned that the abuse, misapplication, or selective deployment of these provisions may create opportunities for manipulation capable of undermining democratic competition and shrinking the political space.

Members of the Bar are reminded that they are Ministers in the Temple of Justice and not political agents seeking judicial endorsement of partisan objectives. The filing of actions intended to draw courts into internal political party disputes, particularly where jurisdiction is expressly excluded, constitutes an abuse of court process and a violation of professional responsibility.

The NBA will take firm steps to deter such conduct. Lawyers who deliberately file actions aimed at procuring judicial interference in intra-party affairs, or who seek ex parte or interlocutory orders in clear violation of statutory provisions, risk facing disciplinary proceedings. We will not hesitate to present petitions before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) against any Legal Practitioner found to be engaging in such conduct. This will be pursued decisively to serve as a deterrent and to preserve the sanctity of the judicial process.

The Nigerian judiciary must stay vigilant and resist being drawn into political theatrics. Courts should firmly decline invitations, no matter how artfully crafted, to intervene in matters the law explicitly bars them from. When statutes limit judicial meddling in party affairs, judges must show restraint, adhere to the law, and focus on cases properly before them.

We call on the National Judicial Council to make regulations that will sanction any judge who knowingly assumes jurisdiction in matters clearly barred by law, grants orders in respect of intra-party disputes in violation of statutory provisions, or lends the authority of the court to partisan political maneuvering. The NBA will not shy away from drawing the NJC’s attention to the actions of any judicial officer found to have acted in a manner inconsistent with the judicial oath, constitutional responsibilities, and the preservation of public confidence in the courts. The NBA will not hesitate to activate its constitutional responsibility to protect the integrity of the justice system.

The NBA calls on the Independent National Electoral Commission to exercise its expanded supervisory powers with utmost neutrality, independence, and fidelity to democratic values. The Commission must not, under any circumstances, be perceived as a participant in political engineering or as an institution whose regulatory authority is deployed in a manner that weakens political pluralism.

The Chairman of INEC, being a distinguished Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, is uniquely positioned to appreciate the constitutional implications of these developments. The NBA expects that the Commission, under his leadership, will ensure that its actions reflect independence, fairness, and strict adherence to democratic norms. The Bar is closely watching the conduct of the Commission and expects that its regulatory role will strengthen, not diminish, confidence in Nigeria’s democratic process.

The Bar will deploy all lawful mechanisms, engagement, advisory opinions, strategic litigation, and disciplinary processes, to ensure that lawyers do not weaponize the legal process so that the judiciary is not misused. Lawyers must remain officers of the court, not architects of procedural manipulation. Nigeria’s democracy must not be weakened by legal maneuvering, institutional capture, or the misuse of judicial authority. The courts must remain arbiters of justice, not instruments of political advantage. Electoral institutions must remain neutral umpires, not participants in political contests.

The electoral institutions must operate within the bounds of constitutional democracy.

MAZI AFAM OSIGWE, SAN
PRESIDENT

https://www.facebook.com/share/1ENfowEp7f/

Democracy Kee you there, a nation whose judiciary is at the beck and call of the executives is practicing democracy for the highest bidder.

These (NBA) are the driving force of corruption and the defenders of it.

Speak up truth is life
Nigeria need truthful people

Has NBA returned the Rivers State N300m they received from Fubara?

Tinubu and his desperation are a threat to this democracy

Nafiu gombe should read this.
It will dawn on him that he's part of the problem.

Like I've said severally the court in Nigeria are following a script.

OBJ don't comot all dey re lion teeths
Now toothless

arsenal33:
Has NBA returned the Rivers State N300m they received from Fubara?

Have all the judges returned the houses wike gave to them??

So anyone can wake up and claim to be the new chairman of ADC tomorrow and the courts should not get involved.?
If anyone else wakes up tomorrow and claim to be the new chair any of any political party then the INEC should also accept such move?
Bunch of clownish bench jokers.
Moreover, the ones trying to take over this ADC, were not party members hence the quoted law does not apply in this situation.
The law is in regards to party members having issues among themselves.
In this situation, you have people who were not party members trying to take over a party.

This bar has fallen below expectations.

Tinubu is destroying the same laws and democracy before their very eyes and they are there using semantics.

Very unfortunate.

Tell Mr President, INEC and your hungry members that

Bala is a disgrace to democracy

Ironfaceman:
Nafiu gombe should read this.
It will dawn on him that he's part of the problem.

Like I've said severally the court in Nigeria are following a script.

Even during the military, court has never be useless and bastardise as it is currently .

The self acclaimed freedom fighter and democrat, he reached his turn, he destroys every tenet of democracy, turning country upside down.


I will be surprised if the democracy he claimed he fought for, survive under him.

If military not taken over, he would change constitution to go unlimited times, he has since succeeded in turning country to one party system.

You have 35 Govs by Ur side, yet still fear to go to poll with opposition, what a wicked and greedy man! If people can learn from trusting bujebudanu people in our politics, society would have better.

Nor be only democracy, na democrazy. Civilian rule since 1999 has been the worst thing that ever happened to the commoners in Nigeria.

Of course nah. At all cost.

But all those who said “ALL EYES ON THE JUDICIARY”, when they meet the Judiciary, shey all slept off like Court jesters that they are

It's their time, let them continue. Time is time. Nobody should caution anyone allow everyone to do what they like. Time will tell.

The NBA headed by Afam Osigwe has been partisan from the day he took office.

As of today, the only law that works is anything against APC. See how INEC recognises Wike's PDP, but interpreted in his own term, ADC case. Oluomo has been removed by Industrial court, but army guarding him.

The judges and lawyers involved in this malady must be disbarred for us to take NBA seriously, there must be consequences for this blatantly assault on our laws.

Now it's as clear as daylight what Amupitan did was puppeteered by Tinubu, can he step aside now...let's have a new INEC Chairman because this is just the beginning of his impunities.

AsomughaChuks02:
The NBA headed by Afam Osigwe has been partisan from the day he took office.

What part of his statement suggests partisanship? An old woman gets uncomfortable when dry bones are mentioned. It is now a general consensus that Tinubu is destroying our democracy.

AsomughaChuks02:
The NBA headed by Afam Osigwe has been partisan from the day he took office.

I guess you also want him to toe the line of tyrant, perhaps you cannot comprehend what they wrote.

Imagine the number one group of people breaking and twisting the law are the once preaching for its protection.... What a joke.

Mad NBA . Dishing out egunje swallowing lawyers to the public

I dey wait for Adeboye to carry placard like him carry for GEJ

First, have they (NBA) refund Rivers state money and then
How would lawyers feed themselves

Wikes puppet's 😆

Hope una get approval

arsenal33:
Has NBA returned the Rivers State N300m they received from Fubara?

Shebi una military dog you call administrator threaten to do his worst .... Drag dem to court nd collect una papa money wey dey NBA hand

Ironfaceman:
Nafiu gombe should read this.
It will dawn on him that he's part of the problem.

Like I've said severally the court in Nigeria are following a script.

+
Listening to him attempt to read a petition at INEC yesterday, it emerges that he can barely read.

AsomughaChuks02:
The NBA headed by Afam Osigwe has been partisan from the day he took office.

+
How? Specifically.

Xxxxxxx

Judiciary contributes to the complexity of the issues in this country

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Another sponsored faction of NBA will come up with another views

Politicians and their strategy is making democracy to become a problem here









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