A group of lawyers from the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Kano Branch have filed a motion at the Federal High Court seeking to halt the implementation of certain guidelines for the upcoming branch elections.
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The motion with the SUIT NO:. FHC/KN/CS/145/2024, filed by Ahmad Sani Bawa, Gidado Aliyu Gidado and others, is asking the court to grant an interlocutory injunction restraining the NBA leadership and electoral committee from disqualifying lawyers who have paid their current bar practicing fees as lawyers of ten years post-call standing from contesting elections.
The issue is a clause in the recently issued guidelines by the NBA Kano Electoral Committee which states that in reckoning post-call years for election purposes, a lawyer shall be considered to have attained a year post-call on each “succeeding anniversary” of their call to bar date, rather than including their actual call year.
The lawyers argue this contradicts the settled interpretation of “post-call” established by a 2019 Federal High Court judgment which held that a lawyer’s post-call years begin counting from the year they were called to the Nigerian bar.
According to the supporting affidavit, the plaintiffs who were called to the bar in 2015 only recently paid higher bar practicing fees this year due to attaining ten years post-call status. They say the controversial guideline threatens to disqualify them and others from contesting key branch positions like chairman.
The NBA Kano elections are scheduled to hold on June 27, 2024. The plaintiffs are asking the court to urgently intervene to prevent their rights from being jeopardized pending the determination of the substantive suit.
The Affidavit partly state: “That unless this honourable court intervenes, the right of the Plaintiffs and many other members would be jeopardized
“That the intervention of this Honourable Court by granting this application will curb the incidence of electoral apathy, division, uproar and disagreement.
“That it is in the best interest of justice to grant this application.
“That granting the reliefs in this application will not in any way prejudice the interest of the Defendants but will promote the course of justice.”9
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