Chris Okparaolu
Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) are not infallible. (That ”thing” is a title mehn! Prestigious and revered title, I should state.)
Nobody and nobody ( committee or association) within the family of the Nigerian judiciary have made a claim to the contrary.
It helps that a few years ago, a Lord Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Justice Oputa, made a statement — that was categorical in its beauty and meaning — disassociating the apex court of the land from any claim to the strict meaning of the word infallible.
“We[the Supreme Court]are not final because we are infallible, rather we infallible because we are final.”
Also Read: Trump cancels final NATO news conference after mock video
Those so-called overnight Social Media ‘activists’ who oppose the Social Media Bill should first stop blocking those who irritate them with insults, unblock all those they have blocked and apologise to them. You can’t be intolerant and ask others to be. Practice what you preach.
— Festus Keyamo, SAN (@fkeyamo) December 2, 2019
If you’re so intolerable of opposing views & insults on social media to the extent of blocking people, if you have the power you will lock them up. That’s the point. Some mischievous ones are trying to teach us that there is no correlation between blocking and locking. There is
— Festus Keyamo, SAN (@fkeyamo) December 3, 2019
Mischief makers are twisting the issues . Let me be CLEAR: nobody should be punished for insulting public officers; nobody can be punished for criticizing govt. But if you post FALSE stories that can turn citizens against one another or lead to an uprising, YOU MUST BE PUNISHED
— Festus Keyamo, SAN (@fkeyamo) December 3, 2019
This has made me think again. I started this short intervention by telling you that SANs are not infallible.
Well, they’re, unlike the Justices of the Supreme Court, not final to boot.
That’s the more reason why there’s absolutely nothing wrong with picking holes in their statements and their processing of issues and facts.
Let me also very loosely say that the mistake of a SAN should not be an indictment on the body of SANs, the Bar, and the entire judiciary.
SANs are human beings, human beings have an entitlement to mistakes.
Reactions to Festus Keyamo’s (SAN) easily unintelligent remark against Anti- Social Media Bill proponents inspired this short intervention.
