A Lagos based lawyer, Joshua Nwachukwu has disagreed with Mr. Jubrin Samuel Okutepa (SAN) that Prof. Ojukwu (SAN) corroborated his stand that the 2007 Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for Legal Practitioners was made by the then Attorney-General of the Federation.

Nwachukwu, in a statement made available to TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL), said Prof. Ojukwu and Rabana (SAN) rather confirmed that the 2007 RPC was amended by the Bar Council

“I have read the statements of Okutepa SAN dated the 12th and 13th of September and I have read the statement of Prof. Ojukwu SAN and Lawal-Rabana SAN and I can say that Prof Ojukwu didn’t corroborate in it’s entirety the statement of Okutepa SAN.

“Firstly, I must commend Prof Ojukwu SAN and Lawal – Rabana SAN for clarifying that the RPC 2007 wasn’t amended by the AGF arbitrarily or in isolation but in conjunction with the Bar Council.” Nwachukwu said

He noted that the “only issue with the RPC 2007 was in the manner it was signed.”

According to Nwachukwu, Okutepa and others earlier gave an impression that the 2007 RPC amendment was unilaterally done by the then AGF. But the statement by Ojukwu has cleared the issue

“Prior to this clarification, the impression Okutepa SAN and others gave was that the RPC 2007 wasn’t done in conjunction with the Council and since no one complained then because of the pecuniary advantages, it’s hypocritical to condemn the current AGF for doing same.

“Now we know, as also emphasized by Prof Ojukwu, that 2007 and 2020 are not in pari material.”

Though Nwachukwu went ahead to agree with Okutepa that the manner the 2007 RPC was signed is fundamental, he, however, submitted that issue of signature is a lesser evil that can at best be seen as a clerical error or bad drafting compared to the 2020 amendment that conformed with neither form nor substance.

He said, “Okutepa SAN said that how the 2007 RPC is signed is fundamental and crucial, I agree with him.

“However, I think how it’s signed is a lesser evil which can be deemed a clerical defect or bad drafting, what isn’t disputed is that the Bar council did make the rules and the said rules were gazetted. This is the substance of S. 12(4) LPA.

“In the case of RPC 2020, neither substance nor form was conformed with, as such it’s voidness is irremediable.”

Nwachukwu reminded Okutepa of his recent statement where he discouraged the elevation of technical justice against substantial justice. According to Nwachukwu, the preamble of the RPC is a ‘technical justice’. He, therefore, urged Okutepa to go for substantial justice.

“In a recent statement of Okutepa SAN, he educated us on the need for substantial justice, he said ‘We seem to enjoy and elevate technical justice far and above substantial justice. We seem to enjoy more of jurisdictional jurisprudence compared to attaining substantial justice’

“Indeed the issue of how the preamble was drafted is ‘technical justice’, this, if needed, can be easily redeemed, that of 2020 can’t.

“I enjoin the learned silk to adopt jurisprudence and substantial justice in this regard and jettison technical justice.”

Nwachukwu thanked the duo of Ojukwu and Rabana for putting record straight.

“Lastly, I thank Prof Ojukwu SAN and Lawal-Rabana SAN for passing on history.

“With history, we’re better guided,” he said