‘He captured Liberia’s judiciary’: Falana tears into NBA over Weah’s keynote at Port Harcourt conference

The Irony was too much for Falana: Man who undermined rule of law invited to lecture Nigerian lawyers about it

One of Nigeria’s most prominent human rights lawyers has delivered a stinging public rebuke of the Nigerian Bar Association for inviting former Liberian President George Weah as the keynote speaker at its 66th Annual General Conference — calling it an affront to the very principles of democracy and judicial independence the event was meant to celebrate, according to The Punch.

Femi Falana, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, spoke in a video posted on the NBA’s YouTube channel on Monday — a day after Weah had urged Nigerian lawyers and judges to defend judicial independence and resist political interference.

Falana was blunt. “I want to appeal that the Bar Association must stop — stop inviting dictators in Africa to come and address us,” he said. He then made his case against Weah point by point.

During Weah’s presidency from 2018 to 2024, Falana alleged, the Liberian judiciary was so thoroughly captured that citizens were forced to seek legal redress outside the country at the ECOWAS Court. He cited two specific cases. In the first, the ECOWAS Court ruled in favour of the Mandingo people of Liberia — whose landed properties were allegedly seized during the civil war — but Weah’s government refused to enforce the judgment. The current Boakai administration, Falana noted, has only recently set up a committee to begin implementation.

In the second case, the ECOWAS Court nullified the dismissal of an associate justice of Liberia’s Supreme Court, ordered his reinstatement and awarded him $200,000 in compensation — a judgment Weah also allegedly refused to honour. “Now, that is the man coming here to talk to us about the rule of law and democracy,” Falana remarked.

He further alleged that drug trafficking networks gained significant influence in Liberia under Weah’s watch.

Falana said there were African leaders genuinely worthy of invitation — citing Namibia’s female president, vice president and speaker as examples — and the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo as a historical figure deserving of such a platform.

Weah, in his keynote address the previous day, had warned that democracy could not be sustained by “strong men” but only by strong institutions — a message undercut, Falana argued, by his own record in office.