Thread by @ChidiOdinkalu

Yesterday, the @njcNig rose from its 102nd statutory meeting without saying a word on the confessions #ChezBulkachuwa. Instead, the president of @NigBarAssoc, @YCMaikyauSAN, himself a member of the NJC issued this statement which had elements of the odd & bizarre.

The @NigBarAssoc president describes Adamu Bulkachuwa as guilty of "disgusting & despicable conduct" & took liberty to announce that the @njcNig "condemned the actions of the senator in the strongest terms...." There are many problems with this statement. Let me point out a few:

1st, it's not clear what "conduct" the NJC purportedly condemned: the fact that Adamu Bulkachuwa confessed or the acts he confessed to. As to the former, he was a beneficiary of Parliamentary privilege; as to the latter, the NJC cannot condemn what it's chosen not to investigate

2nd, it is odd that the president of @NigBarAssoc shd presume to issue a statement for @njgNIG. Although he is a member of the NJC, he is not its chairperson or presiding officer nor its spokesperson. The capacity in which he announced the NJC's condemnation is dubious:

Third, if @njcNig can't condemn what it has not investigated & the president of @NigBarAssoc can't become spokesperson of the NJC without proper appointment, it shd be clear, 3rdly, that any claim about him on the "integrity & independence of the judiciary" are a set up.

What seems clear on the face of this statement is this: the @njcNig met & failed, refused, or neglected to adopt a position on the most serious issue affecting judicial integrity in #Nigeria. The president of @NigBarAssoc, which is on the NJC, then issued a statement as cover up.

If anything is "disgusting & despicable", this is it. The fact that the @njcNig is unwilling & unable to as a statutory & constitutional body to establish the factual bases for issuing a condemnation in this circumstance stands as damnation of that body under current leadership.

This is the 2nd page of the "disgusting & despicable" statement yesterday by the president of @NigBarAssoc.

Let's be clear: @njcNig as the institution responsible to investigate the facts of what Adamu Bulkachuwa said & its effects on the judicial system, has instead chosen to #Unlook. This is a disgrace. They spit at the judicial independence & integrity that they claim to defend.