Lawyers on Tuesday, including Senior Advocates of Nigeria, saluted the acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), for relieving the Director General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura, of his position.
Osinbajo, who is acting in place of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is currently in London on a 10-day vacation, sacked Daura hours after some DSS operatives invaded the National Assembly complex on Tuesday morning.
The acting President, who is a professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, attracted the commendations of his colleagues, who said he had saved the nation’s democracy and upheld the supremacy of the rule of law.
In a statement on Tuesday, a former Deputy Director General of the Nigerian Law School, Prof Ernest Ojukwu (SAN), said the acting President had “renewed great hope that our democracy shall survive.”
Ojukwu, a Nigerian Bar Association’s presidential aspirant, said, “I am excited to be counted as a Nigerian, a lawyer and a law teacher by this example of leadership by our acting President.
“I urge all Nigerians, the Nigerian Bar Association inclusive, to play more proactive roles in protecting our democracy, the rule of law and human rights.
“We should not allow a few men and women to destroy our country by impunity.”
Also, Mr Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), said in a statement that the acting President must be commended “for standing up for the supremacy of the rule of law at this difficult phase of Nigeria’s nascent democracy.”
“All lovers of democracy must support him in his decisive action on the unlawful takeover of the National Assembly,” Oyetibo, a protégé of the late human rights crusader, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), said.
Similarly, two Lagos-based lawyers, Messrs Wahab Shittu and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, hailed Osinbajo for his decisive action on the DSS invasion of the National Assembly complex.
“I commend the action taken by the acting President, in due consultations with the President, I believe. This should be extended to all other security and law enforcement agencies, to follow the law and observe the due process of law, in all their dealings. Let us never allow security operatives, to take our people for granted,” Adegboruwa said in a statement.
