‘SHAME OF THE BENCH & BAR’: NBA PRESIDENT OSIGWE DECLARES ALL-OUT WAR ON LAWYERS, JUDGES WHO TURN COURTS INTO POLITICAL WEAPONS

In a blistering, unprecedented rebuke, the Nigerian Bar Association has accused legal practitioners and judicial officers of actively subverting democracy, warning that “democracy will not thrive” when officers of the court become agents of electoral manipulation.

ABUJA – In what amounts to perhaps the most scathing indictment of Nigeria’s legal establishment since the return to civilian rule, NBA President Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, has declared that lawyers and judges are deliberately violating clear statutory provisions to drag courts into the internal affairs of political parties—an act he warns is nothing less than a slow-motion coup against the constitution.

“Democracy will not thrive in a situation where lawyers and courts take actions and decisions that not only negate our laws but also do violence to them,” Osigwe said, his words landing like a judicial hammer on a gavel that has been dangerously misused.

The target of his fury? Section 83 of the Electoral Act 2026—a provision so unambiguous that even a first-year law student could recite it: “No court in Nigeria shall entertain jurisdiction over any suit or matter pertaining to the internal affairs of a political party.” No interim injunctions. No interlocutory meddling. No backdoor judicial coups disguised as legal filings.

Yet, according to the head of Nigeria’s premier legal body, that is precisely what is happening.

COURTS IN CONTEMPT OF STATUTE

Osigwe did not mince words. He accused unnamed lawyers of filing actions “in clear violation of the Act” and unnamed judges of granting orders “in clear contempt of statutory provisions.” The practice—fueled by forum shopping, bad-faith applications, and what he called “disingenuous litigation”—is transforming Nigeria’s judiciary into a bazaar for political score-settling.

“Such practices, if not immediately curbed,” he warned, “would directly contradict the clear intendment of the Electoral Act and risk transforming judicial processes into avenues for political manipulation.”

The message is stark: The Bar is watching. And the Bar is furious.

NBA TO LAWYERS: YOU ARE MINISTERS, NOT POLITICAL HIRED GUNS

In a direct shot at members of his own profession, Osigwe reminded lawyers that they are “Ministers in the Temple of Justice”—not political agents seeking judicial endorsement for partisan objectives. The filing of actions designed to pull courts into intra-party wars, he said, “constitutes an abuse of court process and a violation of professional responsibility.”

And then came the thunderbolt: The NBA will file petitions before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) against any lawyer found engaging in such conduct. No more warnings. No more slaps on the wrist. Disciplinary proceedings will be “decisive” and designed to “serve as a deterrent.”

JUDGES BEWARE: NJC MUST SANCTION YOU

Osigwe did not stop at the Bar. He turned his gaze to the Bench—and the temperature in the room dropped.

“We call on the National Judicial Council to make regulations that will sanction any judge who knowingly assumes jurisdiction in matters clearly barred by law,” he declared. The NBA, he added, “will not shy away from drawing the NJC’s attention to the actions of any judicial officer found to have acted in a manner inconsistent with the judicial oath.”

That is not a suggestion. That is a threat of exposure—and potential removal.

INEC PUT ON NOTICE

Even the Independent National Electoral Commission was not spared. Osigwe reminded INEC’s Chairman—himself a Professor of Law and Senior Advocate—that the Commission must not be “perceived as a participant in political engineering.” Its supervisory powers must reflect “utmost neutrality, independence, and fidelity to democratic values.”

“The Bar is closely watching,” he said. Those four words carry the weight of a surveillance state for democracy.

THE ULTIMATUM

As Nigeria creeps toward the 2027 general elections, Osigwe has drawn a line in the constitutional sand. The NBA will deploy “all lawful mechanisms—engagement, advisory opinions, strategic litigation, and disciplinary processes”—to ensure that lawyers do not weaponize the legal process.

“Nigeria’s democracy must not be weakened by legal maneuvering, institutional capture, or the misuse of judicial authority,” he concluded. “The courts must remain arbiters of justice, not instruments of political advantage.”

The message is final. The warning is clear. And for any lawyer or judge who thinks the rules do not apply to them: The NBA is coming.

REACTION – Legal observers note that this is the first time an NBA President has so openly threatened disciplinary action against both lawyers and judges before an election cycle. Whether the NJC and LPDC will act remains to be seen. But Osigwe has just fired a shot that will echo all the way to the Supreme Court—and into the smoke-filled rooms where political plots are hatched.

Democracy, he has reminded Nigeria, is not a suggestion. It is the law.