Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has criticised the Nigerian Bar Association over the invitation of social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, to its annual conference.
Falana spoke during an interview with Channels Television on Thursday. He was reacting to the controversy surrounding VDM’s appearance at the NBA’s 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt. VDM spoke at the conference about insecurity in Nigeria. However, Falana questioned the decision to invite him to discuss such a specialised issue.
The senior lawyer said NBA conferences should focus on intellectual discussions. He also called for speakers with experience in the subjects they discuss.
He said:
“In those days, the NBA brought individuals who had paid their dues, who were coming to engage lawyers intellectually. We wanted to learn from them, and so the NBA was not… none of our conferences was a side show in the past.”
Falana demands experts for security discussions
Falana said the NBA should consider a speaker’s experience when selecting people for specialised discussions. He said security matters require people with direct knowledge of the subject.
“So, if you are bringing an expert to discuss the security of the country, either from the private or public sector, such an individual must have contributed to the security architecture of the country,” he said.
According to Falana, speakers without relevant experience may undermine the purpose of a professional conference.
“But when you bring people who have nothing to do with the security of the country, there are problems,” he said.
He compared the situation to discussions about media freedom. Falana said such topics should involve journalists or academics with experience in the field.
Falana responds to Odinkalu’s defence of VDM
Falana’s comments followed a reference to the position of Professor Chidi Odinkalu. Odinkalu had defended VDM’s invitation as a way for lawyers to hear directly from members of the public who interact with the justice system.
However, Falana said Odinkalu’s argument addressed public engagement in general. He said it did not fully justify inviting someone without relevant expertise to discuss a specialised security issue.
“With profound respect to my very good friend Chidi Odinkalu, he was talking in the general sense. We’re talking of this particular case,” Falana said.
Falana agreed that lawyers should engage with members of the public. However, he said security discussions require people with direct experience.
“If we are talking about justice delivery in the country, we now want to hear from members of the public, that will have been okay,” he said.
“But if you are talking about the security of the country, it does require that you bring people who are involved in maintaining the security of the country, or who are victims of abductions and the rest of them.”
Falana wants NBA to revive intellectual tradition
The senior lawyer also called on the NBA to return to the intellectual tradition of its earlier conferences. He recalled presentations by respected legal figures that continued to generate public debate after the conferences.
“In those days—in those days, the submissions of some of our lecturers, like the late Dr. Akinola Aguda when he addressed us in 1985, or the late Justice Oputa when he addressed our conference in 1987—for several days and weeks, their submissions became matters of public discourse,” he said.
Falana said lawyers debated such presentations long after the conferences ended. He added that the NBA should work towards bringing back that tradition.
Falana questions political speakers’ records
Falana also urged the NBA to examine the records of political leaders invited to discuss democracy and the rule of law. He said former leaders should have records that can withstand scrutiny before addressing lawyers on such issues.
“So if you’re going to have a former head of state to address lawyers to talk about democracy or rule of law, then you must bring someone who can say, ‘When I was in power, there was not a single court order that I disobeyed, I didn’t lock up people illegally, I didn’t harass the media,’ and so on and so forth,” he said.
The controversy over VDM’s appearance at the NBA conference has continued to attract reactions. His appearance came after he raised allegations about the conduct of security personnel in relation to kidnapping and insecurity in Nigeria.
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