President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Yakubu Maikyau SAN, has bemoaned the role of some lawyers and the courts in the protracted emirship tussle of the Kano ancient city.

Reacting on the development in Kano, Maikyau said some lawyers and the courts have brought shame to the country's Judiciary as a result of conflicting orders from court of competent jurisdiction in respect of the crisis rocking the stool of Emir of Kano.

"I must say, without any equivocation, that the conducts of counsel and the Courts in the handling of the proceedings which culminated in the orders issued by the Federal High Court, the Kano State High Court and again the Federal High Court, in circus, have brought utter disgrace and shame to the profession — have exposed the entire legal profession in Nigeria to public ridicule and opprobrium" the NBA President said. 

In a statement Wednesday, the NBA President said "The damage is one that would take the legal profession a long time to recover from. 

"It is unfortunate and was totally uncalled for, Maikyau posited. 

"It is completely unacceptable that the processes of our courts would be deployed in the manner we have witnessed in the last couple of days, on a subject matter that is as clear as chieftaincy dispute.

"This is a subject that has been sufficiently dealt with by Legislations and case law, leaving no one confused about the jurisprudence on the subject - both procedural and substantive”, the NBA President submitted.  

Without prejudice to the subsisting actions before both the Federal High Court and the Kano State High Court, Maikyau underscored the urgent need to scrutinize the professional conducts of both Counsel and the Judges involved in these matters.

"This is to enable the relevant bodies or institutions determine their culpability or otherwise, from an ethical and professional standpoint" Maikyau said. 

He therefore called on the respective heads of the Courts of the Judges concerned, to take immediate steps to look into their conducts with the view to finding any possible abuse of their judicial offices and file a report with the National Judicial Council for necessary action.

The NBA he said, on the other hand will investigate the conducts of the counsel involved in these cases and shall not hesitate to commence disciplinary action against them before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, should there be any finding of alleged professional misconduct against them. 

The NBA President hinted that the Chairman of the NBA Ethics and Disciplinary Committee has been directed to invite these counsel for preliminary investigations.