The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Yakubu Maikyau (SAN) says development can thrive only in a society where justice prevails.
Maikyau made the assertion on Sunday in Abuja while being hosted by his friends and colleagues of the Nigerian Law School class of 1990.
According to him Maikyau
only justice can ensure develop in a society and the absence of justice is responsible for any chaos in society.
“The legal profession is not about money, it is about justice as when there is justice, then we can make money,” he said.
The senior lawyer in decried the situation where some legal practitioners gave the public the perception that the entire justice system could be compromised.
He urged all lawyers to speak up and ensure that people knew that the justice system could not be compromised as the rule of law was the fulcrum of the justice system.
“Why will we keep quiet in the face of the narrative that justice can be compromised?
“What we must do is to speak up against any attempt by anyone to speak of the Nigerian judiciary as corrupt or as an institution that can be compromised.”
The president urged all lawyers to support him to change the narrative as that was the task ahead of them.
He also urged all lawyers to join him in working towards the independence of the judiciary.
Speaking at the event, Justice Amina Augie described Maikyau as “her son in whom she was well pleased”.
Augie, a justice of the Supreme Court said it was a divine coincidence that both Maikyau and the current Chief Justice of Nigeria had two years to serve.
“It is a divine occurrence as they both have only two years to deliver on their mandate.
“In these two years they must score 100 per cent on their score cards.
“All we are asking from them is justice because once justice prevails everything else will be okay.”
She said she was optimistic that in two years when the NBA president and the CJN leave the stage, they would have left footprints in the sands of time.
She also said she was confident that whatever problems the bar and the judiciary had, the NBA president and the CJN would tackle them within the two years they had to serve.
Justice Augie also noted the need to institutionalise justice saying this was the only way the citizens would have confidence in the justice system.
Our correspondent reports that Maikyau is the 31st president of the NBA.