.Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor
Renowned Nigerian human rights lawyer and lead counsel to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has called on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to take a firm stand against lawyers who deliberately misrepresent court proceedings and rulings to their clients and the public.
Ejiofor made the call in his weekly article titled “Weekend Musings: When Lawyers Become Merchants of Distortion: The Growing Menace of Misreporting Court Proceedings and the Urgent Need to Restore Professional Integrity.” In the article, he drew attention to what he described as an emerging culture that quietly threatens the ethical foundation of legal practice in Nigeria.
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According to him, the Nigerian Bar Association must renew its commitment to enforcing the highest ethical standards by strengthening professional orientation and ensuring that deliberate misrepresentation of court proceedings attracts appropriate disciplinary sanctions.
He stressed that the strength of the legal profession has never rested solely on the brilliance of its advocacy, but on the integrity of those privileged to practise it. According to him, once lawyers become unreliable narrators of what transpires in court, public confidence in the justice system begins to erode.
Ejiofor noted that as the legal profession welcomes another promising crop of newly enrolled wigs, it is equally imperative to draw attention to an emerging culture that quietly threatens the ethical foundation of legal practice in Nigeria. Unless urgently addressed, he warned, the disturbing trend could gradually undermine public confidence in both the Bar and the administration of justice.
Addressing newly enrolled lawyers, he wrote:”To our newly enrolled wigs, let this remain an enduring professional creed: your greatest asset is not your eloquence, but your credibility. Never sacrifice your integrity for temporary applause or client gratification. Court proceedings are not political propaganda to be rewritten outside the courtroom; they are solemn judicial acts deserving of truthful and responsible reportage.
“If the honour of the legal profession is to endure, honesty in reporting what transpires before our courts must remain one of its most sacred and inviolable traditions.”
Ejiofor recalled that one of the earliest lessons he learnt during his pupillage was that every court appearance carried with it a corresponding duty to accurately brief the client on everything that transpired in court.
According to him, it was a compulsory professional discipline for every lawyer who participated in proceedings to prepare a faithful, objective, and accurate report for the client without embellishment, exaggeration, or distortion.
Regretting the decline of that professional culture, he stated:
“Sadly, that culture appears to be fading.”
He observed that, increasingly, some lawyers,both senior and junior alike ,now exaggerate, selectively report, or completely misrepresent court proceedings in order to impress clients, influence public opinion, or project an illusion of success.
Narrating one such incident, Ejiofor said: “I have personally witnessed a case in which a senior member of the Bar informed his clients that they had secured victory when, in truth, the Court merely declined jurisdiction and directed the parties back to the court already seized of the matter. There was neither a determination of the merits nor a declaration in favour of either party.
“Yet, acting on counsel’s misleading briefing, the clients organised elaborate celebrations, hired public address systems, and publicly proclaimed victory over a judgment that never existed.”
He maintained that such incidents are not isolated.
Citing another example, he said:
“In another matter before the High Court in Enugu State, counsel confidently assured his clients that judgment would certainly be delivered in their favour and encouraged them to prepare for celebration. To their utter embarrassment, judgment was eventually entered against them before the very supporters assembled to celebrate, who, following the unexpected outcome, quietly tucked away in nylon bags the celebratory garments they had painstakingly sewn in eager anticipation of a favourable judgment.”
Ejiofor further suggested that the growing culture of misinformation and deliberate distortion of judicial proceedings may have influenced the decision of a Federal High Court judge in Abuja to adopt the unprecedented measure of live-streaming the delivery of judgment in a high-profile case.
According to him:”Perhaps it was this disturbing and increasingly entrenched culture of misinformation and deliberate distortion of judicial proceedings that impelled a learned Judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, to adopt the unprecedented measure of live-streaming the delivery of his judgment in a high-profile matter. With painstaking precision, His Lordship meticulously read the judgment page by page and line by line until its conclusion, thereby ensuring that every material pronouncement was placed squarely in the public domain.
“This extraordinary step was necessitated by the persistent and regrettable conduct of certain lawyers, some of whom had also assumed the role of consultants and content creators in the same matter, who repeatedly emerged from court after each sitting to publicly misrepresent, distort, and mischaracterise the proceedings and the pronouncements of the court.”
Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor, Esq., Dunu-Ezeugosinachi, further stated that the implications of the practice extend far beyond misleading clients.
He advised that every lawyer must remember that while loyalty is owed to the client, the lawyer’s overriding duty remains to the court and to the administration of justice.
He lamented that no client is ultimately served by falsehood, and no professional reputation can endure where it is built upon deliberate distortion.
The human rights activist and lawyer warned that if the honour of the legal profession is to endure, honesty in reporting what transpires before the courts must remain one of its most sacred and inviolable traditions.
