Chief J.S. Okutepa, SAN, has defended the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, over his intervention in the Nigerian Bar Association crisis, insisting that the AGF’s directives were not designed to hand over the NBA to Egbe Amofin O’odua.
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Okutepa was reacting to a six-page letter by former NBA President, Chief T.J. Onomigbo Okpoko, SAN, who had urged the Attorney-General to reject the report of the three-member committee headed by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, warning that reliance on the report could undermine the NBA’s constitutional and democratic structure.
In his response, Okutepa said Okpoko misunderstood the intention of the AGF’s report and the directions issued thereon.
According to him, the report had nothing to do with handing over the NBA to Egbe Amofin, but was aimed at restoring sanity, due process, transparency and credibility to the affairs of the Association.
He argued that the NBA has been operating in breach of its Constitution and that any step capable of ensuring free, fair, transparent and credible elections should be welcomed by lawyers who truly care about the future of the Bar.
Okutepa maintained that the real danger before the NBA is not Egbe Amofin, but what he described as the emergence of internal cabals allegedly manipulating the Association and its electoral process for predetermined outcomes.
He said lawyers should stop reducing the AGF’s intervention to an Egbe Amofin issue, adding that the concerns raised in the report touch on wider questions of constitutional compliance, neutrality, fairness and the integrity of the 2026 NBA national election.
The senior advocate alleged that the 2026 NBA presidential election was being manipulated to produce a preferred candidate, claiming that evidence had been presented to show bias, partisanship and loss of neutrality by the current NBA leadership in favour of a particular aspirant.
He questioned whether Egbe Amofin was responsible for the alleged conduct of NBA leaders or for the decisions taken by the Electoral Committee of the NBA.
Okutepa also queried the appointment by the ECNBA of what he described as an inexperienced sole proprietorship firm to conduct the NBA election, alleging that the firm had failed to file annual returns with the Corporate Affairs Commission for six years.
According to him, those raising concerns about the AGF’s intervention should instead address whether the electoral process, as presently constituted, inspires confidence among members of the Bar.
He further defended the recommendation for the use of National Identification Numbers and lawyers’ phone numbers in the voting process, arguing that such identity-verification measures would strengthen the integrity of the election and reduce the possibility of manipulation.
Okutepa said the AGF’s report should be understood as an attempt to save the NBA from internal compromise, not as an attempt to elevate Egbe Amofin above the Association’s Constitution.
He added that the report did not grant the requests of Egbe Amofin and therefore could not reasonably be described as an attempt to hand over the NBA to the regional body.
The senior advocate urged senior members of the Bar to confront the challenges facing the Association honestly, warning that the credibility of the NBA and its commitment to the rule of law would be undermined if lawyers refused to deal with the alleged irregularities in the electoral process.
Okutepa’s intervention followed Okpoko’s earlier letter in which the former NBA President urged Fagbemi to reject the Olanipekun committee report in its entirety.
Okpoko had argued that the committee was fundamentally compromised because Olanipekun, who chaired it, is a leading member of Egbe Amofin O’odua, the association whose interest was at the centre of the controversy.
He maintained that Olanipekun ought not to have accepted the appointment because the principle that no one should be a judge in his own cause applied to the situation.
Okpoko also questioned the legal and constitutional status of Egbe Amofin within the NBA, saying he found no evidence that the body was an accredited, affiliated or constitutionally recognised organ of the Association.
He argued that Egbe Amofin could not dictate who should contest for the office of NBA President or compel eligible aspirants to withdraw from the race merely because it had adopted a consensus candidate.
The former NBA President said zoning under the NBA Constitution was intended to rotate leadership among recognised geographical zones and not to empower a regional association to become the nominating authority for national offices.
He warned that recognising Egbe Amofin as a body capable of producing a binding consensus candidate for the NBA presidency would undermine universal suffrage, restrict the rights of eligible candidates and deny lawyers the freedom to choose their national leaders.
Okpoko also faulted the historical foundation of the committee’s report on NBA zoning, insisting that Egbe Amofin’s internal arrangements could not override the Association’s Constitution or established electoral practice.
He recalled that past presidential contests involving candidates from the old Western Zone did not prevent other eligible candidates from the same zone from contesting, citing previous elections that produced former NBA Presidents Augustine Alegeh, SAN, and Olumide Akpata.
Okpoko warned that allowing a regional association to control nominations for NBA national offices could set a dangerous precedent and plunge the Association into crisis.
However, Okutepa disagreed with that interpretation, insisting that the AGF’s intervention should be judged by its objective of protecting the NBA from alleged manipulation, not by suspicion that it favours Egbe Amofin.
He maintained that the Bar must focus on the substance of the concerns raised, including alleged partisanship, the credibility of the ECNBA, the choice of election service provider, constitutional breaches and the need for a voting process that members can trust.
According to him, lawyers must not pretend that all is well with the NBA when serious questions have been raised about the election process and the neutrality of those managing it.
Okutepa said the AGF’s directions, properly understood, were intended to protect the integrity of the Bar and ensure that the 2026 NBA election is conducted in a manner that reflects fairness, transparency and constitutional order.
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