Bar leaders urge unity for NBA elections

The occasions were different, but the rally cry was the same. Leaders of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) rose from separate meetings in the south and north last week with a plea for regional bodies within the association to unite ahead of the 2018 elections. NBA President Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) and Asiwaju Solomon Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), among others, made the call at separate events organised by the Egbe Amofin, Lagos chapter, in Lagos and the Arewa Lawyers Forum (ALF) in Kaduna. Awomolo, who spoke at the 90th birthday of Pa Tunji Gomez in Lagos, called on Egbe Amofin to unite and take their pride of place in the polls. Awomolo said: “Very soon, we will be called upon to elect new leadership for the Nigerian Bar Association. Have we really given thought to what the leadership of the foremost professional association should be in a failed democracy? Election into the office of the president and other principal offices of the association has become a big enterprise. “Attention has been shifted from the character of candidates’ integrity; candidates for the election aligned themselves with the officers in office and it has become ‘Passover methods’. “Some of those who won election into office in 2016/2018 election, positioned themselves behind candidates for the election of 2014/2016, and those seeking election to offices to 2018/2020 have been featured, promoted and made prominent for the forthcoming election as their favourites. “NBA President, A. B. Mahmoud (SAN), a gentleman, was compelled in his meeting with Arewa Lawyers Forum (ALF) in Kaduna, to declare that he had no favourite candidate to succeed him. “The decision of the elders to rotate the presidency from West, Egbe Amofin Oodua (including Edo & Delta) to the Eastern Bar Forum (EBF), including Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Bayelsa states and finally to the Northern States branches (Arewa Lawyers Forum (ALF), was designed to eliminate corrupt competition that characterised NBA elections. It was also thought that rotational method will eliminate allegation of dominion and marginalisation that was partly responsible for the crisis that blighted the 1992 Port Harcourt Annual General Conference that led to the collapse of the association between 1992 and 1998.” Awomolo said the NBA deserves “gentlemen who have genuine desire to serve, men of learning, character and integrity’’. He added: “The president, in particular, must be one that will attract and enjoy respect by all spectrum of the Bar, the Bench and general public. He must be a man with track records of service to the legal profession.” Awomolo warned against candidates who offer bribes. He said: “A Presidential candidate who before election is involved in “bribing” colleagues with payment of travel expenses, provision of hotel accommodation and soft comfort to attend the National Executive Committee meeting is unfit to lead the noble association of honourable members of the legal profession. It is dishonourable, and it demeans the office of the number one man of the Association. “We must be courageous to regard election to the office of the leadership of the association as call to service. It is not an opportunity to take advantage of or compromise the integrity of the most noble and learned profession.” He said recent allegations and counter allegations of corrupt practices by the immediate past executive officers and the current one were worrying. Awomolo said: “I do not know how many of us have seen the correct audited report of the association of the last few executives. The reports of the finances, audit and activities of each successive tenure were circulated among a handful of members of the legal profession. What do we say of the nullification of the association’s constitution? The appeal that was filed but not pursued, the Board of Trustees intervention that failed? The Constitution regulating-the affairs of the Association for now is contentious due to litigations. “We need committed men and women of integrity lead the Bar. We must identify them, as I know there are many of them. Men who, are worthy of our trust, who have not compromised the honour and integrity of the legal profession to lead us.” According to him, Egbe Amofin failed because of compromised leadership, lack of respect for age, seniority, inordinate ambition and false esteem of candidates “who frustrated every effort at reconciliation”. He added: “All sorts of deleterious, unworthy and selfish antics were brought into the open. This encouraged conspiracy that led to the failure of our best. We need to call all Omo Egbe Amofin (Oodua) to know that as long as we remain divided, the certainty of losses and regrets awaits our race.’’ Culled from TheNation]]>