Femi Falana, human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has criticised the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for inviting George Weah, former president of Liberia, to its ongoing annual conference.
Gatekeepers News reports that speaking at the 66th annual conference of the NBA in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, Falana urged the association to stop inviting what he described as “dictators in Africa” to address Nigerian lawyers.
Weah, who served as Liberia’s president from 2018 to 2024, delivered a keynote address at the conference on Sunday, where he urged Nigerian lawyers to defend judicial independence and resist attempts by political leaders to weaken institutions that protect democracy.
However, Falana alleged that Weah undermined judicial independence during his administration, accusing his government of “capturing” the Liberian judiciary.
The human rights lawyer cited two cases in which he alleged that Weah’s administration refused to comply with judgments of the ECOWAS Court.
Falana said the first case involved the people of Mandingo, whose landed properties were allegedly seized during the war.
“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,” he said.
“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 dismissed without justification.
“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,” Falana said.
“George Weah refused to comply with the judgment. That is the man coming here to talk about the rule of law and democracy.”
Falana therefore appealed to the NBA leadership to reconsider its decision to invite African political leaders whom he described as dictators to address lawyers.
“This goes for the leadership of the bar. I want to appeal that the bar association must stop inviting dictators in Africa to come and address us,” he said.
Falana further alleged that Weah’s administration was characterised by the growing influence of drug barons.
“He ruled Liberia between 2018 and 2024. During his time, drug barons took over the country,” he said.
Weah is the only African footballer to have won both the Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards, achieving the feat in 1995.
