NBA condemns ‘demeaning treatment’ of lawyers by Judges

• Exhibition of naked judicial power’

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has condemned the trend of judges subjecting lawyers to “degrading and demeaning treatment” in courtrooms under the guise of contempt of court.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the NBA said it has received reports of judges bullying lawyers, asking them to kneel down and face the wall, and even “unlawfully” ordering their detention

Afam Osigwe, NBA president, and Mobolaji Ojibara, the general secretary, jointly signed the press statement.

The association cited a case wherein Chinwendu Nwogu, a judge at Rivers high court, convicted and ordered the detention of Lovinah Ugbana Benjamin, counsel to the Nigerian Navy, for “allegedly making false statements and imputations against the court in a written address she filed in the matter”.

The NBA also referenced how Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, a judge at the federal high court in Abuja, ordered the detention of Martin Anyanwu, a legal officer in the employ of Federal Medical Centre, Keffi, in the court’s holding facility on March 25, 2026.

Recently, Mohammed Umar, the presiding judge at the federal high court in Abuja, asked Marshall Abubakar, counsel to Omoyele Sowore, activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters, to kneel down in court

The association said the reports of lawyers facing “demeaning” treatment from judges erode the “dignity of the legal profession and the mutual respect that must define the relationship between the Bench and the Bar”.

The NBA said judges must understand that the invocation of the power to punish for contempt of court is an “unwarranted exhibition of naked judicial power which puts counsel and their clients in fear of the court and erodes an important safeguard of fair trial”.

The legal body said judges must know that not every act of “discourtesy” by counsel in court amounts to contempt of court.

“There have been recent reports of lawyers being subjected to degrading and demeaning treatment in courtrooms, including being asked to kneel or stand facing the wall under threat of con- tempt,” the statement reads.