24/08/2026
Weah urges West African lawyers to defend democracy, rule of law
By Matthew Jacobs
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Aug 23, 2026 Former Liberian president George Weah has called on lawyers and judges across West Africa to defend democratic institutions, warning that elected leaders can pose as much of a threat to democracy as military coup-makers when they undermine courts and legislatures.
Weah made the remarks Sunday in a keynote address at the Nigerian Bar Association's 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, held under the theme "Beyond Limits."
The former football star, who served as Liberia's president from 2018 to 2024, told the gathering that democracy could not be reduced to elections, arguing that the strength of democratic systems depended on independent institutions capable of restraining political power.
"Democracy does not survive on the strength of elections alone," Weah said. "Elections are the doorway into democracy, not the house itself."
He said an independent judiciary and a principled legal profession were essential to ensuring that governments remained accountable after elections.
"The danger is not only that soldiers might seize power in the night," Weah said.
"It is also that a leader who arrives in office through a free and fair election can, over time and often gradually, begin to govern like the very dictators the ballot was meant to guard against."
He warned against political interference in the judiciary and legislature, saying democratic credentials obtained through elections did not give leaders unlimited authority.
"A tyrant with a certificate of return is still a tyrant," Weah said, adding that democracy was tested "every single day" after elections by the way governments treated institutions designed to check their power.
'Strong institutions'
Weah cited outgoing Nigerian Bar Association president Mazi Afam Osigwe, who he said had argued that "democracy cannot survive on strong men.
It survives on strong institutions."
The former Liberian leader said the principle should guide African governments and political leaders seeking to build institutions that survive beyond individual administrations.
He described the rule of law as a practical safeguard for ordinary citizens rather than an abstract legal concept.
"It is the practical guarantee that a citizen's rights do not depend on who is in office or what favor they can secure," he said.
Weah warned that when that protection weakens, countries risk losing public confidence and economic stability while increasing the prospects for insecurity and conflict.
He also pointed to what he described as broader threats to democratic governance in Africa, including manipulation of public budgets, questionable appointments, pressure on judges and attempts to weaken institutional checks and balances.
His remarks come against a backdrop of repeated military interventions in West Africa since 2020, including coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger, which have intensified debate over democratic governance, constitutional order and the performance of civilian institutions.
"We have seen, across our region since 2020, an unsettling pattern of soldiers stepping over constitutions altogether," Weah said.
But he stressed that democratic backsliding could also occur under civilian governments.
Bar's role
Weah urged the Nigerian Bar Association to view its responsibilities as extending beyond professional welfare to include defending judicial independence and citizens' rights.
"The Nigerian Bar Association is not merely a professional association negotiating welfare for its members," he said. "You are a standing sentinel of this Republic's democracy."
He argued that a united and independent legal profession could discourage political interference in the judiciary and help protect constitutional government.
"When the Bar is silent, courts become easier to be captured," he said.
Weah also called for lawyers to defend due process regardless of the wealth, political influence or social status of those before the courts.
"The true measure of a lawyer is not how many cases you have won, how many titles you hold, or how much you earn," he said.
"It is this: when the country needs courage, do you have the courage to stand?"
Africa's untapped potential
Turning to the conference theme, Weah said going "Beyond Limits" should mean more than overcoming individual obstacles. He argued that African countries must address structural problems that prevent the continent from fully using its human and economic potential.
"We Africans are not short of brilliance," he said. "We are short, too often, of the infrastructure and the organized will to let that brilliance connect."
He called for a shift in the way African countries view their diaspora, urging governments to see highly skilled Africans working abroad as a potential source of expertise rather than simply as victims of "brain drain."
"We must be strategic about" the diaspora, Weah said, advocating what he called "brain circulation" that would allow professionals abroad to contribute to national development without necessarily abandoning their careers overseas.
He proposed that diaspora expertise could be deliberately incorporated into legal reform, judicial modernization and other national development programmes.
A Nigerian-trained lawyer working on an international arbitration panel or advising a global institution, he said, should not necessarily be considered lost talent.
"That is talent operating at the highest global standard, available to be called home if we organize the bridge for it to cross," Weah said.
Recalling Liberia's 2023 election
Weah also used his own political experience to illustrate his argument about democratic restraint.
He recalled Liberia's 2023 presidential runoff election, in which he was defeated by current President Joseph Boakai.
Weah said that when early provisional results showed that the election was moving in Boakai's favour, he called his successor to congratulate him before the final results had been formally announced.
"I chose to concede while the counting was still underway," Weah said, explaining that he believed "the will of the people must stand above the ambition of any one man in a democratic setting."
Boakai ultimately won the runoff with about 50.9 percent of the vote, while Weah received about 49.1 percent, according to Liberia's electoral authorities.
Weah's concession was widely praised as an important moment in Liberia's post war democratic transition.
He said the decision was particularly meaningful because the Nigerian Bar Association had recognised it in inviting him to deliver the keynote address.
"It tells me that this Bar understands precisely what is at stake when we insist that no office, however high, is worth more than the peace and the will of the people who conferred it," he said.
Five values
Weah, who became one of Africa's most celebrated footballers before entering politics, drew a direct connection between his sporting career, his political journey and the conference theme.
He said his rise from the Gibraltar community in Monrovia to the world's biggest football stages and ultimately Liberia's presidency demonstrated that circumstances should not necessarily determine a person's future.
"Beyond Limits, to me, is not a slogan. It is a living testimony of my life," he said.
He identified five values he said were necessary for people and institutions seeking to overcome obstacles: discipline, hard work, respect, perseverance and spiritual strength.
Discipline, he said, was essential both in sport and in the legal profession, while hard work was necessary to confront corruption, weak infrastructure and institutional shortcomings.
He urged lawyers to respect human dignity, constitutional institutions and differences of opinion, while stressing perseverance in defending justice despite political pressure.
He also spoke of the importance of faith and moral responsibility, saying leadership should be regarded as temporary stewardship rather than personal ownership.
Call for justice
Weah ended his address with a broad appeal for African lawyers to defend impartial justice, equality and peaceful political competition.
"Let us all stand for true justice for the rule of law that builds greater unity, that makes a nation more attractive to investment, and that creates a stable environment in place of internal conflict," he said.
He urged lawyers to ensure that the law did not become a political weapon or an instrument of conflict.
"The law must never be an instrument of chaos," Weah said. "It must never become a weapon of war."
Instead, he said, law should serve as an instrument of "remedy, of peace, of unity, and of accountability."
Addressing Nigerian lawyers directly, Weah said the responsibilities of the legal profession extended beyond Nigeria.
"Nigerians depend on you. West Africa depends on you. Africa depends on you," he said. "Democracy depends on you. And free elections depend on you."
He called for greater commitment to fairness, impartiality, gender equality, accountability, human rights, peaceful coexistence and free and fair elections.
The address ended with Weah congratulating the Nigerian Bar Association and calling for a stronger commitment to democratic values across Africa.
"Stand up for the rule of law. Stand up for fairness. Stand up for impartiality," he said. "Stand up against discrimination. Stand up for accountability. Stand up for free and fair elections."
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