Senate President Godswill Akpabio has called on the newly confirmed Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Kekere-Ekun, to take decisive action against senior lawyers who frequently appear on television or social media to criticize the judiciary or comment on pending court cases. Akpabio made this appeal on Wednesday during the Senate\u2019s screening of Kekere-Ekun.<\/p>\n
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While not naming specific individuals, Akpabio’s remarks appear directed at high-profile human rights lawyers such as Femi Falana, Inibehe Effiong, Liborous Oshoma, and Frank Tietie, who are known for regularly appearing on programs like *Politics Today* to discuss judicial matters.<\/p>\n
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Akpabio lamented the growing trend of senior lawyers publicly analyzing ongoing cases, which he argued undermines judicial integrity and has the potential to influence case outcomes. “They ought not to [comment publicly]. Their comments and analyses tend to influence the final outcome of those cases, and in most instances, they bring about injustice,” Akpabio remarked.<\/p>\n
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He expressed concern that this behavior has set a bad example for younger lawyers, encouraging them to see public commentary on judicial matters as acceptable. To address this, Akpabio urged the new CJN to take action, suggesting that disciplining senior lawyers would restore the judiciary’s integrity and deter others from similar behavior.<\/p>\n
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Akpabio emphasized, \u201cIf the court or the appropriate agency can discipline a senior lawyer who is fond of analyzing cases that are yet to be decided on television or social media, it will serve as a deterrent.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In response, Justice Kekere-Ekun supported the Senate President’s concerns, warning that lawyers engaging in such conduct could lose their ranks. She stressed that while social media has amplified negative narratives about the judiciary, the courts have constitutional powers to address such misconduct. “A senior member of the bar who has earned the rank of Silk, it\u2019s a privilege, not a right, and that privilege could be withdrawn if abused,” she noted.<\/p>\n
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Kekere-Ekun added that while public discourse often influences how court judgments are perceived, judges must remain committed to their oath and not be swayed by external commentary. Following her remarks, the Senate confirmed Justice Kekere-Ekun as the new CJN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has called on the newly confirmed Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Kekere-Ekun, to take decisive action against senior lawyers who frequently appear on television or social media to criticize the judiciary or comment on pending court cases. Akpabio made this appeal on Wednesday during the Senate\u2019s screening of Kekere-Ekun. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":50070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50044"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50077,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50044\/revisions\/50077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}