By Peace Aboje
THE Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, nullified the unilateral amendment of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for legal practitioners in Nigeria by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN.
Malami had singlehandedly amended the provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) in 2020 expunging the mandatory use of NBA stamp and seal for lawyers as well as the provisions requiring lawyers acting for the government, ministries or corporations to pay Annual Bar Practising fees.
The stamp and seal, by the rules, is required to be affixed to any document signed by lawyers for such document to be accorded a recognition with lawyer’s imprimatur.
Apart from helping to check quackery, the stamp and seal is also a major source of revenue for the NBA, besides the practising fees paid by lawyers.
But a former vice-president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Monday Ubani, challenged Malami’s unilateral amendment of the rules in the suit, which many lawyers had criticised describing the action as an attempt to weaken the NBA.
Some members of the NBA had pulled out to form the New Nigerian Bar Association (NNBA) due to allegations of partisanship and poor welfare of members.
But, in the suit filed by Mr Ubani alongside other lawyers including Okoro Nkem, Clement Chukwuemeka and seven others, the plaintiffs challenged Mr Malami’s powers to “unilaterally make and or amend the rules of professional conduct for lawyers.”
In his judgement on Wednesday, the judge, Justice Donatus Okorowo, declared the AGF’s amendment of the rules “illegal and invalid.” He held that the AGF lacked the power to alter the rules.
The judge first dismissed Mr Malami’s preliminary objections before granting all the plaintiffs’ reliefs. In dismissing the objection, Justice Okorowo declared that the General Council of the Bar which has the authority to amend the RPC is constituted by several members, and the RPC cannot, therefore, be legitimately amended by the singular desire and action of an individual.