A Place For Rule Of Law In The Choice Of The Next President Of The NBA: Options Before Nigerian Lawyers In The 2020 NBA National Elections By Oreofe Adewole Esq

(A) The Law as Represented By The NBA Constitution

Section 9 (3) of the NBA Constitution (as amended) provides that “for the purpose of election into National Offices, the country shall be divided into zones as set out in the Second Schedule to this Constitution.”  The Second Schedule to the Constitution in its Part 2.1 (a) and (d) provides as follows:

“a) The Association shall for the purpose of elections of National Officers be divided into three geographical zones namely – Northern zone, Eastern zone and Western zone. (d) Where a position is zoned to any particular geographical zone, the position shall be rotated and held in turn by the different groups and/or sections in the geographical zone.”

Part 2.1 (e) of the Second Schedule provides a list of the states that make up each of the zones: (i) The Northern Zone — Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara and Abuja; (ii) The Eastern Zone – Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Enugu, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Cross River, Imo, and Rivers; and (iii) The Western Zone – Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo.  Respected :Learned Silk, A.B. Mahmoud represented the Northern zone and rules from 2016 to 2018, while Paul Usoro, SAN who represented the Eastern Zone started in 2018 and would end his rule in August 2020, to be replaced by a President elected from the Western Zone whose turn it is to preside over the affairs of the NBA for the next two years beginning in August 2020 and ending in August 2022 when power would go back to the Northern Zone. All the four persons who have stepped forward with intentions (though yet unannounced) to contest elections into the NBA Presidency in 2020 are from the Western Zone – Deacon Dele Adesina, SAN; Babatunde Ajibade Ph.D, SAN; Mr. Olumide Apata; and Mr Adesina Ogunlana.

(B) How Compliance with Rule of Law Could be Achieved in 2020

Part 2.1 (d) of the 2^nd Schedule of the NBA Constitution: “Where a position is zoned to any particular geographical zone, the position shall be rotated and held in turn by the different groups and/or sections in the geographical zone.”  Now, that the position of the next President of the NBA has been zoned to the Western Zone, should this provision of the NBA Constitution not be our guide, in view of the fact that the Western Zone is made of TWO different groups or sections within the zone?  The Western Zone comprises (a) the defunct Mid-Western Region of Nigeria (made up of Edo and Delta States); and (b) the defunct Western Region (made up of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo States). It should be recalled that in 2008, when it was the turn of the Western Zone to produce the NBA President, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN (an indigene of Ondo State, within the defunct Western Region) was elected and he served well until 2010. In 2014 again, it came to the Western Zone and Nigerian Lawyers wisely elected Mr. Austin Alegeh, Life Bencher, SAN (an indigene of Edo State, within the defunct Mid-Western region) and he served excellently until August 2016, and handed over to A.B. Mahmoud, SAN, a candidate of the Northern Region. The above decisions were in full compliance with Rule of Law as represented by part 2.1. of the 2^nd Schedule, cited above. Now, in 2020, we should pray and hope Nigerian lawyers would exercise their wisdom again in favour of the rule of law by electing a candidate who hails from within the defunct Western Region of Nigerian (made up of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo States). to lead the NBA until 2022.

(C) Conclusion & Recommendation

I will urge Nigerian lawyers to please respect and uphold the concept of Rotational Presidency as exemplified by section 9 (3) and part 2.1 (a), (d) & (e) of the NBA Constitution clause. I refer to the wise counsel by Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of Great Britain: “Being democratic is not enough, a majority cannot turn what is wrong into right. In order to be considered truly free, countries must also have a deep love of liberty and an abiding respect for the rule of law.” And I conclude by begging all Nigerian lawyers to recognize that only respect for Rule of Law within the NBA would preserve, maintain and further strengthen the basic structures of our internal democracy. Ensuring that every section and strata of the Bar is carried along would afford each and all a sense of belonging, promote unity, good followership and peace within the NBA, and quicken progress by the Nigerian Bar and its members.

|I am Oreofe Adewole Esq, of the Western Zone