The Nigerian Law Society, NLS, has said its members have been conducting themselves with ‘dignity and discipline’ in the face of unprovoked attacks by the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA.

NLS is an emerging professional association of lawyers which has been locked in a dispute with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, over its quest to get a formal registration.

The emergence of the NLS is also being opposed by the NBA, the umbrella body of Nigerian lawyers. The NLS is meant to co-exist with the NBA as alternative professional lawyers’ associations in Nigeria.

The NLS provided an update on issues surrounding its push for registration in a statement released on Saturday, titled, ‘Lessons on Leadership from the Nigerian Law Society (NLS): What the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) can Learn’, signed by its Executive Director, Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja.

According to the statement, the leadership and administrative staff of the Nigerian Law Society “have conducted themselves with utmost dignity and discipline in the face of unrelenting attacks and illegal provocation by the Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association”.

The statement noted that from December 2023, when an Abuja Federal High Court gave a judgment ordering the CAC to register the Nigerian Law Society in compliance with Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999 (as amended), “it has been one attack after another”.

“The Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and who was supposed to apply legally approved methods, refused and resorted to extra-judicial methods such as publishing defamatory comments against the NLS on both social media and traditional newspapers.

“In accordance with it’s principled “dignity and discipline”, the Nigerian Law Society (NLS) refused to respond in kind by engaging a social media war. Instead, it submitted its complaints to the courts of law which were already handling the appeal filed by the same CAC and the NBA.

“When these social media methods did not achieve the desired results, the Registrar-General of the CAC, then resorted to writing petitions against the NLS to law enforcement agencies such as the Department of State Security Services (DSS), Police and even the Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) requesting them to shut down the website and other operations of the NLS. NITDA is on record as refusing by telling the Registrar-General of the CAC that only a court of law can give an Order to that effect,” the statement noted.

The NLS further explained that its Executive Director personally went to the DSS and Nigerian Police to respond by submission of both written and oral evidence, to all the petitions by the Registrar-General of CAC.

“Even though some members of the National Officers of the Nigerian Law Society (NLS) also have connections within the Nigerian Police and other law enforcement agencies, and could have “unleashed” such law enforcement agencies upon the Registrar-General of the CAC, the NLS resisted the temptation of returning “fire-for-fire”. Instead they chose the path of “dignity and discipline” by reporting all these harassment to the courts of law and the National Human Rights Commission by a visit to the Executive Secretary.

“They also paid a visit to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to formally notify him of the illegal actions of the Registrar-General of the CAC,” the statement added.

The NLS urged the NBA to learn from what it described as the “maturity” exhibited by its national officers, led by the President, Mela Nunge, SAN, who came on board in July 2024.

“It is not as if everything is smooth sailing or there are no challenges within the Nigerian Law Society (NLS), however they have managed to manage their egos and internal revolts internally without bringing it into the public domain,” the statement added, noting that, “to the contrary”, an internal revolt in the NBA over the forthcoming national conference, due to hold in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, recently spilled into the public domain.

“This recent crisis speaks volumes; it shows that the leadership style of the NBA is bereft of democratic ideals and lacks both the “dignity and discipline” and amicable dispute resolution methods that are now the characteristic trademarks of the Nigerian Law Society (NLS)”.

It would be recalled that the Nigerian Law Society had in August 2024 reported the Registrar General of the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, Hussaini Ishaq Magahi, SAN, to President Bola Tinubu over alleged violation of the rights of its members.

The development followed a letter written by Magahi to the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, seeking approval to prosecute the NLS and other corporate entities said to be operating without registration in the country.

The CAC had also, on 6th August, 2024, in a publication titled ‘Public Notice Status of Nigeria Law Society’, stated that the NLS is not registered, while describing its activities as illegal.

However, in a letter dated 22nd August 2024, addressed to President Tinubu, and also copied to the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, the NLS accused Magaji of using the police to harass its members instead of waiting for the outcome of an ongoing lawsuit at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.

Parts of the letter read, “We write to request your urgent intervention to call Mr Hussaini Ishaq Magahi, SAN, Registrar General of the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, to order to prevent him from further human rights violations against the promoters and members of the Nigerian Law Society, NLS.

“Hussaini Magaji is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, which is the highest rank within the legal profession. He ought to understand the rudimentary principle of law that when a lawsuit is already before any court, parties to the lawsuit are supposed to submit all their complaints to the said court of law.

“To the contrary, instead of Hussaini Magaji to submit any complaints against the members of the NLS to the court of law, he has formed the habit of writing petitions to the Department of State Security Services, SSS/DSS, Nigerian Police and Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, asking them to close down the physical office and website of the NLS.

“Since the week of 12th August 2024, we have been receiving telephone calls from Police officers inviting officials of the NLS because of a petition against the NLS by the said Registrar General. On 21st August 2024, we honoured the invitation at the office of the Nigerian Police Investigation Department, Headquarters, Abuja, and our Director General was informed that he needed a lawyer to stand as surety for him to be granted bail.”

We have remained calm in the face of NBA’s unprovoked attacks – Nigerian Law Society