Nigeria, March 18 -- I was deeply dismayed to learn of the disturbing encounter between Honourable Justice Abubakar Umar of the Federal High Court, Abuja, and Mr Marshal Abubakar, lead counsel to former presidential aspirant, Mr Omoyele Sowore, in the judge's courtroom on Monday, 16 January.

These are troubling times for Nigeria's democracy and justice system. A sitting judge reportedly ordered a practising lawyer to kneel in open court simply because, in the heat of argument, he believed the counsel had raised his voice. In that moment, the judge became both adjudicator and prosecutor in his own cause.

Even in the most contentious proceedings, judicial decorum does not extend to humiliating a legal practitioner. Ordering counsel to kne...