Opinion

The Law:When The Cost Of The Brief Crushes The Conscience Of The Counsel

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Late Hanifa Abubakar

<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"YPpPTGWp" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>By Bala Ibrahim&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"s0WZixK1" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>According to lawyers&comma; a counsel or a counsellor is a person who gives advice on various issues&comma; particularly in legal matters&period; Lawyers and counsellors are therefore employed to help in finding the best way to resolve a dispute or prevent one from occurring&period; And many a time&comma; they help in that direction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; like in every profession&comma; the place of conscience is subjectively based on the personal feelings and opinion of the individual&period; What may be morally right to one person may be viewed wrong by another&period; And such behavioural dichotomy is abound among lawyers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Depending on the cost of the brief&comma; some lawyers tend to mortgage their conscience&comma; by surrendering the concept of correctness to the casual cajole of cash&period; Such etiquette is not only capable of crushing the creed&comma; but injuring the persuasion and principal purpose of the legal practice&period; Yes&comma; lawyers must be seen as the companions of conscience&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"4a0PKORA" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Last week&comma; Monday&comma; 07&sol;02&comma; my Governor&comma; H&period;E&period; Dr&period;Abdullahi Umar Ganduje&comma; invited me to his lodge at Asokoro&comma; Abuja&comma; where we had a lengthy frank discussion on a number of issues&comma; that climaxed with the terrible death of five-year-old Hanifa Abubakar&period; I told the governor that&comma; all eyes are on Kano now&comma; not because of the turbulent political situation&comma; but because of Hanifa&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nigeriantracker&period;com&sol;2022&sol;02&sol;14&sol;image-merchants-institutes-prizes-for-best-students-in-pr-digital-economy-at-buk&sol;">Image Merchants institutes prizes for best students in PR &comma; Digital Economy at BUK<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Much as the state is determined to get justice done&comma; if care is not taken&comma; some unscrupulous lawyers may come under the common excuse of Human Rights&comma; to either frustrate the trial&comma; or make a mess of the entire process&comma; by cajoling the suspect to change his position&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The governor said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;on this particular issue of Hanifa&comma; justice must not only be done&comma; but must be seen to be done&period; I would do everything humanly possible&comma; including keeping track of the legal process&comma; to ensure that no one frustrates the trial&period; And whatever is the outcome of the trial&comma; I would hasten to assent&comma; even if its a capital punishment”&period; I said thank you&period; But my instincts were telling me to expect surprises&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lo and behold&comma; yesterday Monday&comma; 14&sol;02&sol;2022&comma; exactly a week after my meeting with His Excellency&comma; at the continuation of the trial of the principal suspects of the murder of the little Hanifa&comma; Abdulmalik Tanko and his partner in crime Hashimu&comma; who had both earlier confessed to the police&comma; of committing the murder&comma; made a change of mind&comma; by denying in court the allegations that the little girl was poisoned and buried in the school by them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>My mind was quick to say&comma; aha&excl;&comma; the devilish lawyers have come and whispered in the ears of the accused&comma; and this may be the beginning of frustrating the case&comma; and ultimately the end of the arrival of the justice the public and his Excellency are looking forward to&period; They may be sent as surrogates&comma; to assist in saving those who severed the life of the little girl&period; This is wickedness&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Yes&comma; lawyers say&comma; when justice is delayed&comma; justice is denied&period; And from the body language of the accused yesterday&comma; unless there is a special intervention by people of conscience&comma; the journey to get justice for Hanifa may not be achieved&comma; or could take longer than expected&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I know once some unconscientious lawyers come into the case&comma; honesty and diligence would be thrown to the dogs&comma; depending on the cost of the brief&period; They would work at cross purpose with common sense and conscience&comma; without thinking about what is right&comma; what is fair&comma; or even appropriate&period; All they are after is what they would get&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As reported by one agency&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The main suspect in the murder of five-year-old Hanifa Abubakar in Kano&comma; Abdulmalik Tanko has denied killing the girl and pleaded not guilty&period; Tanko&comma; accused of abducting and killing Hanifa&comma; has denied the allegations levelled against him and two others in court during the trial on Monday”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I have always been an advocate for the formation of Human Wrongs unions or organizations&comma; to counter or confront the excesses of the so called Human rights unions&comma; some of whom are only doing it in deceit&comma; as double-dealers working for selfish aggrandisement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Yes&comma; the accused has a right as a human being&comma; but what about the victim&quest; Is he or she not human&quest; What does one stand to gain morally&comma; by cajoling the accused to deny his confession&comma; simply because you want to drag the argument in court&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I think the time has arrived&comma; particularly with this case of late little Hanifa&comma; for the public to rise to the occasion&comma; and mobilize very well&comma; to checkmate the nonsense of some irresponsible lawyers and their cohorts&comma; who are fast becoming an encumbrance or impediment in the discharge of speedy justice in Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It is sad that in inconsideration for cash&comma; the conscience of some counsels is crushed&comma; such that they become ready to play the clog&comma; without regards to the consequences&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Bala Ibrahim was a Broadcast Journalist with BBC Hausa service and was a correspondent of the station in Kano and Lagos<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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