Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, has delivered a powerful goodwill message to the Nigerian Bar Association, Epe Branch, on the occasion of its 2025 Annual Law Week. Commending the Branch for its courageous theme—“Justice in a Changing World: Human Rights, Land Management and Rule of Law”—Akangbe described it as not only relevant but also a sobering reflection of Nigeria’s current realities.
In a hard-hitting message, the senior advocate decried rampant human rights abuses, the flouting of court orders, and the weaponisation of the Land Use Act by political leaders. He condemned the forceful seizure of ancestral lands, the growing boldness of lawlessness, and the seeming helplessness of the judiciary in the face of escalating impunity. Calling on the Bar to resist this dangerous tide, Akangbe warned that silence in such times is tantamount to complicity and urged urgent action to restore justice and the rule of law.
Read full statement below;
I extend my warmest felicitation to the Executive Committee, Planning Committee, and members of the NBA Epe Branch on the occasion of your 2025 Law Week themed *“Justice in a Changing World: Human Rights, Land Management and Rule of Law.”*
The theme is not only apt – it is an indictment of our times. Across Nigeria, security agencies violate human rights with impunity. Court orders are flouted openly. Governors, upon taking office, make land expropriation their first act – forcefully acquiring ancestral homes and government properties to settle campaign debts, then selling them to private developers without compensation. This is not governance; it is conquest.
The Land Use Act was meant to bring order. Instead, it has been weaponised by those in power and betrayed by those entrusted to uphold it.
Worse still, non-state actors slaughter innocent citizens while the state looks away. In the face of all these violations, the judiciary appears emasculated.
Worse still, as time passes, impunity deepens. Lawlessness grows bolder. The oppression of the weak intensifies
The Bar must resist. Silence is complicity. The time to act is now.
Warm regards,
LATEEF OMOYEMI AKANGBE SAN, FCIArb(UK)
Former Chairman, NBA Lagos Branch
