Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has criticised the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for inviting former Liberian President George Weah to speak at its 66th annual conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. According to The Cable, Falana spoke on Tuesday during the ongoing conference, where……
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has criticised the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for inviting former Liberian President George Weah to speak at its 66th annual conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
According to The Cable, Falana spoke on Tuesday during the ongoing conference, where he urged the leadership of the NBA to stop inviting what he described as “dictators in Africa” to address Nigerian lawyers.
Weah, who served as Liberia’s president between 2018 and 2024, delivered a keynote address at the conference on Sunday, urging Nigerian lawyers to defend judicial independence and resist attempts by political leaders to weaken democratic institutions.
But Falana questioned Weah’s record on the rule of law and judicial independence while he was in office, alleging that his administration “captured” the Liberian judiciary.
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The human rights lawyer cited two cases in which, according to him, Weah’s administration failed to comply with judgments of the ECOWAS Court.
Falana referred to a case involving the Mandingo people, whose land, he said, had been seized during the Liberian civil war.
He said the ECOWAS Court ruled in favour of the affected people but alleged that Weah refused to comply with the judgment.
“George Weah, who was here yesterday, and was talking about the judiciary. In his country, his regime captured the judiciary to the extent that they had to contact some of us outside the country to get legal redress in the ECOWAS court,” Falana said.
“In the case of the people of Mandingo against Liberia, people whose landed properties were seized during the war. The ECOWAS court gave them judgment.
“George Weah refused to comply with the judgment. The new government of Boakai has therefore set up a committee for the enforcement of that judgement.”
Falana also cited the case of Kabineh Muhammad Jan’neh, an associate justice of Liberia’s Supreme Court, who he said was removed from office “without any basis”.
According to him, the ECOWAS Court overturned Jan’neh’s dismissal, awarded him $200,000 and ordered his reinstatement, but Weah’s administration allegedly refused to enforce the ruling.
“Second, Kabineh Muhammad Jan’neh, an associate justice of the supreme court in Liberia, was dismissed without any basis.
“Again, we went to the ECOWAS court, the court set aside his dismissal and awarded him $200,000 and he was ordered to be reinstated.
“George Weah refused to comply with the judgment. That is the man coming here to talk about the rule of law and democracy.”
Falana consequently appealed to the NBA leadership to reconsider the practice of inviting African leaders whom he accused of undermining democratic institutions.
Falana also accused the former Liberian leader’s administration of allowing drug barons to gain influence in the country.
“He ruled Liberia between 2018 and 2024. During his time, drug barons took over the country,” he added.
Weah, a former international footballer, is the only African footballer to have won both wthe Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards, achieving the feat in 1995.
