Lawyers at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja shunned the directive by Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for them to boycott the courts.
Recall that the association called for the boycott at the end of its emergency National Executive Council meeting on Monday, which discussed the suspension of Walter Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria.
Mr Onnoghen was suspended in controversial circumstances by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday.
The suspension is deemed illegal and has drawn strong condemnations. The NBA ordered court boycott in protest, amid concerns over the violation of the independence of the judiciary.
Visits to courts in Abuja on Tuesday revealed that fully robbed lawyers, turned up in court, ready to conduct businesses for the day.
The situation was the same in the Supreme Court (located within the Three Arms Zone), through the Court of Appeal (located also in the Three Arms Zone), the Federal High Court (in Maitama) and the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitam.
Although most judges at the Federal High Court did not sit, with some said to be attending a seminar, Justices of the Supreme Court sat and conducted proceedings. So was the case in some High Court of the FCT visited.
Some of the lawyers spoken to said the directive by the NBA lacked the force of law. And since it was not an order of court, lawyers could choose to abide by it or disregard it where their client’s interest is at stake.
They argue that since the issue of the suspension of the CJN was already in court, the NBA and all other interested parties should allow the court reach a decision one way or the other.
