Kamarudeen Ogundele, Ado Ekiti
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Joe Gadzama, on Monday urged lawyers and law enforcement agencies not to collaborate or mislead leaders into disobeying court orders.
He gave the advice in Ado Ekiti while delivering a paper titled, “Upholding the rule of law : Strict adherence to the rule of law as veritable machinery for national growth,” at the 6th Afe Babalola Annual Lecture organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, Ado Ekiti branch.

He however did not spare any of the three tiers of government in the blame, saying both the federal, state and local governments were guilty.Expressing regrets over prevalent cases of non compliance with the rule of law in Nigeria, Gadzama said the trend was capable of eroding public confidence and that of the outside world in the nation’s judiciary, the government as well as security agencies.
“There are too many cases of disobedience to court orders in Nigeria and if a stop is not put to it in record time, it will not only destroy our reputation as a country, it will also diminish the confidence of foreign investors in our economy and judicial system
“Your support for fight against corruption must be done with strict adherence to the rule of law. The judiciary must insist on being independence of any other arm of government, cases linking lawyers or judges and security agencies  with unlawful  arrest, unending detention and other abuses.”
He called on lawyers and judges to support the ongoing war against corruption within the ambit of the law.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the occasion, Justice Ahmed Belgore, who is the Presiding Judge of the Appeal Court, Ado Ekiti, commended the Ado Ekiti branch of the NBA for instituting the annual lecture in honour of Chief Afe Babalola (SAN).
In his response, Babalola promised to continue to dedicate the rest of his life to the promotion of culture of respect for the  rule of law and philanthropy.