Wike wants Nigerians to insist on free, fair election

Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers has urged Nigerians to prevail on the National Assembly to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto on the 2010 Electoral Act Amendment Bill to guarantee free, fair and credible electoral system.

The governor made the call on Thursday while declaring open the 2018 annual Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Section on Legal Practice Conference in Port Harcourt.

He appealed to the Nigerian legal practitioners to rise up and insist on the relevance of the amended Electoral Act 2010.

“Let me remind us that a defining feature of the legal profession is the commitment to promote both the substantive rules and the processes of the law, as well as to defend the democratic values of our society,’’ Wike said.

He called on the lawyers to constantly reinvent and reposition themselves in response to existing and new challenges both in the theory and practice of the law.

The governor said that legal practitioners should think of ways of remaining relevant in the legal practice in a bid to meet the demands of their clients and society in the most professional, diligent and efficient manner.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onoghen, represented by Justice AB Gumel said the conference was holding at the right time.

According to him, this will allow the bench and bar the opportunity to apprise emerging issues of justice delivery.

Justice Onoghen urged judges to adhere to the tenets of the law in the delivery of judgments.

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), said the NBA Section on Law Practice was a vehicle for deepening professional practice in the bar.

The Chairman of NBA Section on Legal Practice, Mr Mainnaya Essien (SAN), noted that recent ethical issues required appraisal of practice and challenges.

It was reported that the high point of the occasion was the presentation of a recognition plaque to the governor by the NBA president for his outstanding contributions to the legal profession.