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Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has criticised the Nigerian Bar Association for inviting former Liberian President George Weah to deliver the keynote address at its 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Falana urged the NBA to stop inviting what he described as African dictators to address Nigerian lawyers, questioning Weah’s record on democracy and the rule of law.
Falana alleged that Weah’s administration, which governed Liberia from 2018 to 2024, undermined judicial independence and failed to comply with some judgments of the ECOWAS Court. He cited cases involving the Mandingo people and a former associate justice of Liberia’s Supreme Court, claiming that rulings in their favour were not enforced under Weah.
The criticism came a day after Weah addressed the conference, where he called for an independent judiciary and urged lawyers and judges to remain impartial. He warned that democracy could not survive on “strong men” but required strong institutions, while Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara also called for a courageous judiciary committed to upholding the truth.
