A group of concerned individuals has cautioned the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Yakubu Maikyau, against his plans to sanction the suspended Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC, Yunusa Ari.
Recall that Mr Maikyau had referred Mr Ari to the NBA’s Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for investigation and possible sanction, following an incident during the collation of the Adamawa governorship election results that led to Mr Ari’s suspension by the INEC.
But the group, in an Open Appeal co-signed by its President and Secretary-General, Dr. Tizhe Tumba Joseph-Ibrahim and Buba Kojoli, respectively, reminded Mr Maikyau that Mr Ari’s case was a statue barred because it is pending before the Adamawa State High Court.
The group, therefore, advised the NBA president to tread with caution by waiting for the judiciary to dispose of the case before taking any action at the level of the NBA.
READ THE FULL STATEMENT BELOW:
OPEN APPEAL TO THE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION (NBA): BARRISTER YAKUBU CHONOKO MAIKYAU, SAN ON THE HURRIEDLY PLANNED DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST BARRISTER HUDU YUNUSA ARI:
A People eager to prejudge guilt as opposed to innocence, are a people ripe and ready to become a despot’s willing executioners.
-A.E. SAMAAN
It is important to unequivocally state that our association is a non-political, non-cultural and non-religious umbrella with membership drawn from young, vibrant and focused progressives in Nigeria who are passionately poised to promote fairness and engender social justice, unity and harmony amongst Professionals.
Our position is precipitated by your recent outburst on the issue of Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari, the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner of Adamawa State in the 2023 General Elections.
According to the facts available at our disposal, you have in your capacity as the President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) unilaterally caused an action to refer Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for investigation and possible sanctions.
Please NOTE that we are neither sponsored nor linked directly or indirectly to Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari but rather WE ARE ON OUR OWN to fight for the glaring injustice and unfair treatment you intend to mete out to him or any other person whose cause is known to us as we have been famous in the industry for more than a decade!
It may interest the general public and Nigerians of good conscience to also note the following posers:
✓ When the matter of Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari is currently pending to be adjudicated before the Adamawa State High Court with a charge No HC/ADSY/15/2023 filed on 5th July, 2023, whose interest are you desperately pursuing that you cannot wait for the Judiciary to dispose-off the case for determination as to whether or not he is guilty?
✓ When the case of Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari is currently pending before the Adamawa State Electoral Petition Tribunal with No. EPT/AD/GV/01/2023, whose interest are you desperately pursuing that you cannot wait for the Judiciary to dispose of the case for determination as to whether or not he is guilty?
✓ Where were you when the lawyers of Governor Ahmadu Fintiri kept objecting to the appearance of Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari at the Adamawa State Governorship Tribunal on 22nd July, 2023 which could have given him the golden opportunity of presenting facts for the benefit of the public and for posterity?
✓ Why are you contradicting the consistent position of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in the case of Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari to the effect that lawyers must refrain from comments or taking steps on matters pending before courts of law in the overall interest of justice?
✓ What effort have you made to personally or officially seek to know, hear or find out from Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari on his consistent and unapologetic position that his action for declaring Aishatu Dahiru Binani as the winner of the Adamawa State Governorship Election was informed by some documents before him and the circumstances he found himself, and the need to uphold the integrity of the Electoral Empire seeing the Returning Officer and the two National Officers dispatched to supervise the elections were bent in denigrating the credibility of the elections?
Flowing from the above, we hereby crave your indulgence to be guided by the quotation of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus who enthuses thus: “No Man will hinder thee from living according to the reason of thy own nature; nothing will happen to thee contrary to reason of universal nature”. In our considered opinion and taking into cognizance the universal principle of fair hearing, we believe that Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari ought to be presumed innocent until a competent Court of Jurisdiction finds him guilty.
In conclusion, we wish to use this medium to appeal to you that as far as the case of Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari vis-à-vis the Adamawa State Governorship Elections Tribunal are concerned, the speed at which you are pursuing the case is to say the least, not only bunkum but gibberish and counter-productive to the administration of justice in Nigeria.
We therefore urge you to use your influence and authority as the President of NBA to sheathe your sword of summarily sentencing Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari through the instrumentality of the NBA organs and allow due process of the law to take its deserving course.
When you hearken the clarion call of Nigerians by suspending or withdrawing the disciplinary action initiated against Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari, we assure you that you shall not only succeed in your leadership of NBA but also continue to elicit goodwill and support even long after your tenure expires.
A stitch in Time saves Nine!
Long Live Nigerian Bar Association!
Long Live Adamawa State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
……………………………………………………………………………….
Dr. Tizhe Tumba Joseph Ibrahim
(PRESIDENT)
Buba Kojoli
(SECRETARY-GENERAL)
