RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION OF ARTIFICIAL PERSONS IN NIGERIA- A CONTEMPORY GESTALT

Right to legal representation is guaranteed under the extant Nigerian Constitution. This can be done by the defendant himself or through his retained lawyer. What has remained unsettled is whether right of legal representation extends to artificial entities and if so, whether it extends to its officials conducting its case on its behalf or whether it must only be through counsel acting on the artificial person’s behalf. To settle this legal quagmire, this paper deployed the doctrinal research method and considered constitutional and other statutory provisions on legal representation of artificial persons and the interpretations placed on them by the Courts. The paper found that, in as much as an artificial person is entitled to legal representation, it is a physical impossibility for it to attend Court in person as it must act through its officials or directing minds. The paper further established that an artificial person cannot, while acting on the pedestal of exercise of right to legal representation procure the services of its official who is a non-lawyer to represent it. Thus, unlike a natural person, an artificial person must at all material times be represented in Court by its employees or officials but it cannot conduct its case in Court without being represented by a qualified counsel or lawyer as there is no law authorising such. Consequently, it was recommended among other things that the Courts should remain steadfast in inhibiting the right of audience of a non-lawyer scheming to offer legal representation to an artificial person in the Court.