A Lagos-based lawyer and humanist, Tope Temokun, has condemned the suspension of Barrister Ifunaya Delilah by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)
The NBA had suspended the lawyer over indecency, nudity and weed smoking.
Questioning the rationality of the suspension, Temoku reacted that “if this girl had studied physics or English or Theatre Arts, would her certificate have been withdrawn because of her non-conformist lifestyle?”
“But if the answer is No, then what makes the NBA owns her? What gives the NBA the confidence that she does not belong to other organisations that accept her counter-cultural lifestyle? Or better put, what makes the NBA feel that studying law and being called to [the] Bar has excluded her from other affiliations or from practising other vocations or professions apart from law?” he asked.
The humanity asked further, “Who has the call to bar certificate, NBA or Ifunaya? What can make the holder lose the certificate? Did she use the certificate to commit crime or unprofessional conduct?
“Is she a practising lawyer? If she is not, then whose face is she? Face of Nigerian lawyers, to warrant our worry or face of our decadent society and friterred values, that do not have the moral reason to worry?”
Ifunaya Delilah is a young female lawyer who was called to the bar recently. She was suspended by the Nigerian Bar Association over misconduct.
Although the Nigerian Bar Association has yet to respond to reporters inquiry regarding its widely publicized action against Ifunaya Delilah. Recent investigations revealed that she was called to the bar barely a year ago and had since gained notoriety online posting images of herself in a wig and gown along with other semi-naked pictures.
While some have questioned her purported suspension by the body of benchers, many have also dubbed her a model who showcases her art differently.
