A member of NBA Abuja Branch 1 (Corruption Free Unity Bar) and former NBA Publicity Secretary, Unity Bar, Silas Joseph Onu,  has disagreed with the former General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mazi Afam Osigwe, FCIArb, for saying that the NBA President lacks the power to extend the deadline for the payment of the Bar Practice Fee and branch dues.

Contrary to the opinion of others that it is the NBA Constitution that has the final say as to how the activities of the Association will be managed, Onu said that NBA Constitution does not have a supreme binding force on the Association rather the General Meeting.

In his statement made available to TheNigerialawyer with the title “MOTION FOR THE REQUISITION OF AN ONLINE EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION TO DELIBERATE AND ALLOW BPF PAYMENT UNTIL THE END OF MAY 2020 DUE TO THE UNFORESEEN REALITY THAT HAS HAMPERED PAYMENT BY THOSE DESIRING TO PAY ON THE 31ST OF MARCH 2020”, Onu is urging the NBA President Paul Usoro, SAN  to call an urgent meeting to address this issue brewing argument among members of the legal profession. 

He said: “On the contrary to the position my big brother and friend Mazi Afam Osigwe, I am of a different view on this issue. The NBA Constitution is not the supreme authority of the Association, the General Meeting is. Article 5 of the Constitution 2015 says that much. 

“Therefore, the Constitution provisions are subject to override by the General Assembly, when the need arises. The Bar has various levels of decision making and the National Executive Committee under Article 7 (5.a) inspite of “h” , can make a decision and then ratify it at the next NEC meeting for onward approval in the 2020 AGM, all in retrospect due to the urgency of the time. Or, if the first option is not ok for the  EXCO, then Article 10 (4) can be deployed to call for an Extraordinary General Meeting to deliberate on this specific issue. The quorum is just 300 from 1/3 of registered branches and nothing says that such a meeting cannot be virtually done.

“I, Silas Joseph Onu, being a full financial member of the Bar and having paid my dues in January of 2020 hereby call on the NBA President, through the General Secretary, to immediately call for an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Association to specifically address the issue of the need to extend the payment of BPF for those who wanted to pay on the last day of March, being today the 31st of March, 2020 but are unable to do so due to the Emergency lockdown of the Nation.

“The meeting will consider the need to deem all payments made between now and the end of May 2020 as having been made on the 31st of March, 2020.

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