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The Whistler Newspaper reported that Femi Falana used a video posted on the NBA’s YouTube channel to fault the bar association for hosting George Weah as a keynote speaker at its 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt. The senior advocate appealed directly to NBA leaders to stop inviting African figures he described as dictators to address Nigerian lawyers. Falana argued that Weah’s presence was particularly inappropriate given the former president’s record on judicial matters, which the lawyer said forced Liberian citizens to seek remedies outside their national courts.
Falana specifically referenced the case of the Mandingo people in Nimba County’s Ganta District, whose ancestral lands were seized during Liberia’s civil war. A 2023 ECOWAS Community Court of Justice ruling in the Ganta Support Group case ordered restoration of those rights, yet the Weah administration made no effort to comply despite repeated requests from the plaintiffs. The current Liberian government under President Joseph Boakai has since formed a committee to enforce the judgment, according to a March 2026 report published by The Nigeria Lawyer.
In another cited instance, associate justice Kabineh Muhammad Ja’neh was removed from Liberia’s Supreme Court without due process, prompting an application to the regional court. The ECOWAS Court nullified the dismissal, directed reinstatement and awarded the judge $200,000 in compensation along with withheld entitlements. Falana stated that the Weah administration refused to implement any part of the order, leaving the ECOWAS judgment unenforced throughout the former president’s term.
The senior lawyer further alleged that drug trafficking flourished under Weah, with barons gaining significant influence during his presidency. He claimed that Weah’s former vice president Edith was arrested on August 19 and now faces trial in a $370 million drug trafficking matter. Falana also accused the former head of state of spending nine days in Qatar at Liberian government expense to support his son Timothy Weah during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Weah had delivered his address the previous day, urging lawyers and judges to uphold impartiality and safeguard democracy through strong institutions rather than reliance on powerful individuals. The former president warned against governments that claim democratic credentials while colluding with judges and subverting the rule of law. His remarks came during the conference themed “Beyond Limits,” which Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara opened by similarly calling for courageous judges free from external influence.
A 2023 legal analysis of ECOWAS Court jurisdiction noted that the tribunal has increasingly heard individual human rights complaints against member states, an expansion that Falana helped champion during his tenure as president of the West African Bar Association. Such cases have highlighted tensions between national sovereignty and regional accountability in West Africa. Falana questioned how Weah could credibly speak on judicial independence and democracy given the record he outlined.
