If you ever needed proof that the legal profession in Nigeria has lost its moral and professional compass, look no further than what unfolded in Asokoro, Abuja, on Thursday.
The Garki Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association rolled out the red carpet for a convicted notorious pension thief, decorated him with a Patron’s robe, and handed him an Excellence Award for “Rule of Law and Courage.”
I mourn today, not just for the pensioners who died waiting for the billions Abdulrasheed Maina and his son stole, but for the soul of the once-respected profession.
The NBA Garki Branch, which claims to stand for justice, integrity, and the rule of law, bowed to and worshipped gross impunity at the conferment event held in Asokoro, Abuja, on Thursday. I can stake my balls on my belief that the executives of the NBA Garki Branch smiled all the way to the bank afterwards.
Maina was not a suspect; he was duly convicted. A judge looked at the evidence comprising fake accounts, stolen billions, and houses bought with pensioners’ tears—and concluded the facts were “sordid, immoral, and morbid.”
Maina’s own siblings testified against him. His company was wound up. His properties were forfeited. The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction.
Yet, there he was, standing before lawyers and being decorated as a patron and award recipient. He stood there, not in prison uniform, but in a muffler of honor.
What “courage” did the NBA reward?
The courage to steal from old men and women who served their country?
The courage to jump bail and flee justice? The courage to return from prison unrepentant?
Maina now claims he was a whistleblower. That he recovered trillions. That the now-disgraced Abubakar Malami is the real thief.
Even if a fraction of that were true, since when did one crime justify another? Since when did a thief become an honorable man because he accuses a bigger thief?
The ghosts of pensioners who suffered and died are definitely watching from the great beyond as the very people who should defend their memory pour wine for the man who broke them.
The NBA Garki Branch has not just embarrassed itself; it has dragged the entire legal profession through the mud. It has told every young lawyer that integrity is useless. It has told every pensioner that their suffering is a joke. It has told every Nigerian that in this country, shame is for sale, and honor is awarded to the highest bidder.
Where was the NBA when the pensioners wept? Nowhere. But when a hardened convict is smuggled out of prison, they find him a robe of honor and an award plaque. This is a show of shame. A tragic, stinking, disgraceful show of shame.
I call on the national leadership of the NBA to disband the Garki Branch executive immediately. The very late but lame attempt by the NBA national body led by Mazi Afam Osigwe to extricate itself from the shame is an act of hypocrisy. Why wait for almost 48 hours to issue such lame statement? We need action, not lame condemnation. Heads must roll. Those who sold off NBA’s integrity to a hardened convict who was smuggled out of prison, must face the music.
I call on every lawyer with a conscience to condemn this abomination. I call on the public to remember this day when a notorious criminal was honoured by the NBA.
To the pensioners still with us: I am sorry, your country has failed you again.
To the legal profession: What is left of you now?
To Maina: Enjoy your award. It is carved from the wood of shame and inscribed with the blood of a nation’s conscience.
May God not forgive the NBA Garki Branch and Maina.
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