Bob James, a lawyer, has petitioned Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), asking her to suspend Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), from the Body of Benchers over what he described as “dishonourable public conduct”.
The petition comes after the video of the FCT minister confronting a naval officer at a disputed plot of land in Abuja surfaced online on November 11.
In his petition, James described Wike’s action as falling below the standard expected of a bencher.
“The thing that makes this ugly scenario troubling is the fact that Mr Wike is not just a senior lawyer but a member of the Body of Benchers,” the lawyer wrote.
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“What Mr Wike has done is unparalleled. There is no precedent in the history of the legal profession in Nigeria of a bencher publicly deploying vulgar language or the kind of aggression associated with motor park people.”
He stressed that the Body of Benchers, which oversees the call-to-bar process and maintains professional discipline, cannot ignore behaviour that undermines the moral standards it imposes on new lawyers.
“The benchers who are custodians of the highest level of public decorum and decency expected of a lawyer cannot themselves in the least be found wanting,” he said.
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James also referenced professional conduct standards in other jurisdictions, citing guidance by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) of England on comments made “inside and outside practice”.
“The note stated that ‘outside comments posted in a personal capacity and which might be deemed offensive or inappropriate could be classified as misconduct if the poster is a solicitor’,” he said.
The lawyer further referenced the court of appeal decision in Ayorinde v. Kuforiji (2007) 4 NWLR (Pt 1024) 341, where Amina Augie, a former justice, held that “lawyers must guard their tongues and pens in and out of court”.
He said the presence of Wike at the next call-to-bar ceremony would send the wrong message to new lawyers.
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“They would just dismiss everybody on that panel as a bunch of pranksters,” James added.
“If the new wigs are being told that one of the principal duties of benchers is to discipline erring lawyers, they would just hiss and say, ‘except the erring lawyer is a Wike.’”
He urged the CJN to initiate a full investigation into the incident, insisting that the integrity of the legal profession is at stake.
“It seems to me that if an investigating body makes a determination that Mr Wike indeed used that foul language in public, then he is not a fit and proper person to sit as a member of the Body of Benchers,” he said.
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He requested Wike’s suspension from the Body of Benchers pending the outcome of the investigation.
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