PUNCH
The Nigerian Bar Association on Tuesday told the President, Bola Tinubu, that the determination of what “constitutes “illegal orders” still remains a matter within the exclusive preserve of the courts of law” and not the presidency.
The NBA made the clarification in a letter released by its president, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, in reaction to a statement by the President, during his Democracy Day address, “that the unnecessary illegal orders used to truncate or abridge democracy will no longer be tolerated.”
Maikyau, in the letter, reaffirmed that the NBA will at all times “vehemently oppose any attempt by any person or group of persons to truncate or in any way abridge our democracy”, he, however, insisted that the president cannot ascribe to himself that role.
Maikyau further congratulated Tinubu on his swearing-in as the sixth democratically elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and tasked the new government to focus on the immediate issues of national security, economy and administration of justice.
The letter read in part, “What Nigerians require is a well-thought-out, informed, all-inclusive and purposeful intervention, with as much information made available to the public, to the extent permitted within the parlance, so as to reassure Nigerians of the sincere commitment of the government in the area of security.
“Government must be transparent; the people must, by deliberate and conscious investment in manpower development and equipment purchase/procurement, be taken out of the state of fear, which decades of bloodshed and flourishing criminal activities have plunged the country into; the psyche of Nigerians must be recovered from the place of despair and despondency! The right people must be given the task of implementing security plans and policies.”
While admitting that the preponderance of views supports the removal of subsidy by the new government, Maikyau noted the need to ameliorate the effect of the removal on the citizens.
