The African Bar Association (AfBA) has condemned in strong terms the continued disobedient to rule of law by the continent’s leaders.
The body said it will do everything within its power to put an end to the illegality that has continued for long.
While calling on the media to join hands with it in the daunting tasks, the AfBA said from Nigeria to Gambia to Cape Verde and other African countries, the rule of law has been flagrantly ignored.
The President of the association, Hannibal Uwaifo who spoke at at a World Press Conference organised by the association on Monday noted that the government of Cape Verde had refused to obey the ECOWAS court order.
He said, “As a responsible organisation, the African Bar Association has a duty to promote respect for the principles of the rule of law, constitutional democracy and good governance not only in West Africa but the whole of the continent.
“While the African Bar Association is unable to involve herself in the undercurrents and politics of the detention of Ambassador Saab, it is heartwarming to confirm that instead of resulting to jungle justice and other primitive ways of settling disputes, the parties on their own volition submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of the ECOWAS Community Court.
“Cape Verde refused to obey an earlier interim ruling. In the said ruling which the court gave before the final judgment, Cape Verde was ordered by the court not to put Mr Saab in prison but under house arrest with access to his physician, family members and legal counsels.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the AfBA Committee on Information and Public Communications, Osa Director, at the briefing said the Association had concluded plans to hold its annual conference.
Director said the event would hold in October at the Mahatma Gandhi International Conference Centre in Niamey, Niger Republic.
According to Director, some former African presidents will also be honoured at the event for the role they played in the promotion of the rule of law.
“One of them will be former President Goodluck Jonathan, former president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson, former president of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, and the immediate past president of Niger Republic, Mahamadou Issoufou, the former president of Botswana, Festus Mogae, a retired judge in South Africa, Vavanethem Pillay,” he said.
