In view of the dis-invitation of the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, to the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), two lawyers from the North, Nuhu Ibrahim and Abdulbasit Suleiman have announced the formation of “New Nigerian Bar Association”.
The lawyers, in a statement sighted by TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL), said the new Association will be inaugurated soon
They added that the recent happenings in the Association has “exposed the inability of the NBA to manage and contain the heterogeneity of it’s members as well as their various interests. It’s penal powers has been deployed discriminatively on the basis of ethnicity and regionalism.”
According to the Group, dis-invitation of El-Rufai on the basis of Prof. Chidi Odinkalu’s letter without hearing the governor’s side of the story goes contrary to the governor’s right to fair hearing
The NNBA stated that that membership of NBA as currently constituted is mandatory and therefore contrary to section 40 of the Constitution which provides for right to freedom of association
The New Nigerian Bar Association members “feel that their interests are no longer taken into consideration in major decisions of the NBA hence the formation of this Association. A cursory chronicle of the membership composition of major organs of the NBA would reveal lopsided representation despite having large numbers of Lawyers from all parts of the Country and especially Northern Nigeria who have diligently paid their Bar practicing fees and have distinguished themselves in the legal profession.”
They said Lawyers of like mind and duly called to the Nigerian Bar have decided to form New Nigerian Bar Association with the aim of protecting their interests as encapsulated under Section 40 of the Constitution
The added that members of the group have commenced consultations with very Senior Lawyers of Northern Nigeria extraction and those practising therein with the view to constituting the Trustees and for purposes of fixing date for formal inauguration of the Association.
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