Learned Silk, Unity Without Progress Is Worse Than Progress Without Unity: A Rejoinder By O.E Henry

A little while ago, I read an article by one of the potential candidates for NBA President, a learned Silk, on the brouhaha in the NBA Unity Bar. The Learned Silk made the call during a visit to a factional meeting of the NBA Abuja. We are not told whether or not he addressed the other group, but like the immediate past NBA President, he appears to have pitched his tent on one side.

It is no longer news that the administration of A.B Mahmoud SAN and Aare Isiaka Olagunju made the Abuja situation worse by leading the charge to flout the court order of Justice U.P. Kekemeke. My people say that “onu nwa ewu n’abia na-amafe ka ana apinye agiri afọ ya” translated to mean “The same hole the baby goat jumps over playfully, is used to bury the contents of his entrails when it is killed.” In other words, don’t leave holes lying around, fill them up quickly. As the oyinbo man says “A Stitch in Time Saves Nine.”

Obviously the reason that the NBA Abuja issue has lingered for so long because senior members of the Bar chose to flout Court Orders and encourage others to do the same have not been called to order. It appears as if nobody, even the National leadership has the balls to tell them the truth.

What example is being set for we younger ones when we see Senior Lawyers flout court orders with impunity? If it was a young lawyer, everybody would be complaining about how young lawyers are spoiling the profession. How can we spoil a profession that we have not even started to see?

Why did the learned Silk wait until election time before making this call for unity? Can we be sure that this call is in good faith and not an ambition borne out of politics of adoption? With more than 9,000 Lawyers, Abuja is clearly a major factor in NBA elections.

Right now, only one faction is taking up issues of young and old lawyers. Learned silk, some of us who are in the faction that you support don’t have a voice and more lawyers are moving to the other side every day. By the time you read this article, I also would have ported. As the Branch Elections approach, we are hearing that the same cabal that factionalized the Branch already want to impose a female chairman and a “royal” secretary who is alleged to be an expert at organizing parties and packaging female “conference materials” for senior lawyers. Learned silk, unity without progress is worse than progress without Unity. When the will of the majority is eroded by an overly entitled and egocentric minority, you have unity without freedom. Unity without freedom is slavery, not unity.

Many of us have lost out of the good things the other faction has been doing- health insurance, training, capacity building etc because we were told lies by some seniors. It is these same seniors who will remove you from the Branch WhatsApp group for having a legal discourse or banter. It feels like North Korea and the other group are in South Korea. Like Korea, maybe it is time for the Branch to have a two-state solution to put an end to the issues we are facing. If the Branch is split up then maybe we will finally have peace.

Any other solution may be like drinking hand sanitizer to cure corona. A one-way trip to the other side.

O.E Henry is a young lawyer who writes from the FCT, Abuja, 08160542783, hthienry@gmail.com