Former First Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association, J. O. Aikpokpo-Martins, has publicly questioned the motives of Egbe Amofin Oodua in its aggressive push to ensure that only Aare Muyiwa Akinboro SAN becomes the next NBA President, accusing the South-West pressure group of deploying what he described as kamikaze tactics that threaten both the group itself and the entire Association.
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In a detailed statement issued on Tuesday, the past NBA-SPIDEL Chairman and former NBA Warri Branch Chairman also made the startling allegation that Egbe Amofin’s true objective is not to win the pending court cases on their merits, but to engineer a state of emergency in the NBA and foist a caretaker regime on the Association by August 2026.
Aikpokpo-Martins traced the history of the Southwest-Midwest power struggle within the NBA whenever the presidency is zoned to the Western zone. He revealed that prior to 2014, the Midwest was politically excluded from consideration for the NBA presidency whenever the position was zoned to the West.
He said all attempts by the Midwest to get the Southwest to concede the presidency in 2014 were rebuffed by the then leadership of Egbe Amofin. Augustine Alegeh SAN eventually stepped forward to champion the Midwest cause and won a gruelling election against the expectations of the Southwest.
In 2020, the Midwest again initiated talks and sought a mutually agreed rotational formula, but the Southwest once again made agreement impossible. The result was another hotly contested election, which Olu Akpata and Aikpokpo-Martins himself won as President and First Vice President respectively.
With the presidency again rotating to the Western zone for the current cycle, Aikpokpo-Martins disclosed that he was initially interested in contesting. He said several overtures were made to the leadership of Egbe Amofin by the Midwest to sit down for roundtable discussions on a rotational formula, but the Egbe leadership would not make themselves available.
When it became obvious that a Midwest victory could trigger what he described as a catastrophic pushback, the Midwest opted to voluntarily withdraw from the race to avoid upheaval.
“We chose the unity of the Bar above a probable pyrrhic victory and opted to wait for next time. Personally, this was at great personal cost, but then the overall interest of the Bar must be paramount,” Aikpokpo-Martins stated.
He noted that the voluntary withdrawal was thankfully acknowledged by Egbe Amofin.
Aikpokpo-Martins said he expected that after the Midwest’s withdrawal, peace would prevail since all remaining aspirants are from the Southwest, meaning a Yoruba and member of Egbe Amofin would inevitably become the next NBA President regardless of who wins.
“One would have expected that all would be fine thereafter, as all the aspirants are from the Southwest. To bring it home, it means that a Yoruba and member of the Egbe Amofin to be precise will definitely be the next NBA President. But then, there is still no peace,” he observed.
He questioned why the certainty of a Yoruba presidency was not comforting and satisfactory to Egbe Amofin, and what was driving the group’s insistence that only Akinboro SAN must be the president.
In his most damning allegation, Aikpokpo-Martins stated that from his assessment, the first objective of Egbe Amofin is to engineer a state of emergency in the NBA and foist a caretaker regime on the Association by August 2026.
“The objective of instituting the pending cases is not to win on the merit as some erroneously think,” he declared, suggesting that the court actions are part of a broader strategy to disrupt the electoral process rather than achieve substantive legal victory.
The former Vice President went further, questioning whether there was a specific regional agenda that Egbe Amofin believed only Akinboro SAN could execute on its behalf — one that might not align with the NBA’s overall interest.
He acknowledged Akinboro’s pedigree, qualifications, and soft-spoken nature, describing him as a very strong candidate. However, he suggested that Egbe Amofin may believe that the other Southwest aspirants — Lateef Akangbe SAN and Mrs. Okusanya-Badejo SAN — might not be able to execute what he described as a parochial agenda, thus making Akinboro’s candidacy crucial to the group’s ultimate goals.
“If Egbe Amofin, a regional pressure group, is pushing this ferociously for Aare Muyiwa Akinboro SAN to the exclusion of their other candidates to be the President without a contest, I am beginning to look beyond the surface to discern the motive. As a group representing Southwest interests, should they not be satisfied with a Southwest President, regardless of who he or she is? Their stubborn insistence on a particular individual suggests there may be more to it than just regional representation,” Aikpokpo-Martins stated.
The former Vice President called on Egbe Amofin to take a step back and reconsider what he described as kamikaze tactics currently being deployed. He warned that if the present disagreement is not properly managed, it will lead to a major crisis in the NBA.
He urged the NBA leadership to engage Egbe Amofin and all other stakeholders in the overall interest of the Association, adding that if the process of voting is the real problem, it can in truth be resolved.
“I concede that it is honourable to push for the realization of a group resolution, but when that pursuit becomes an existential threat to Egbe itself and the Association, such a resolution must imperatively become negotiable, or modifiable, or expendable,” he stated.
Aikpokpo-Martins’s statement adds another voice to the increasingly heated debate around the NBA’s 2026 presidential election, which has been mired in controversy over the composition of the Electoral Committee, allegations of bias against NBA President Afam Osigwe SAN, court orders restraining the ECNBA from functioning, and competing legal arguments over whether those orders are still in force.
The ECNBA has issued a call for nominations with an April 8 deadline despite the legal challenges, while the claimants’ counsel, Chief Okutepa SAN, has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the notice and threatened contempt proceedings.
The Ibadan court suit challenging the Electoral Committee’s composition is adjourned to April 15, 2026, setting the stage for a critical hearing that could determine the fate of the entire electoral process.
Aikpokpo-Martins’s allegation that the real objective behind the litigation is to create a state of emergency and install a caretaker regime introduces a new and potentially explosive dimension to the crisis, one that is certain to provoke strong reactions from all sides.
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