The 1999 Constitution of Nigeria in Chapter 2 Paragraph 4 sub 3 and 4 states; “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies. 4.The composition of the Government of a State, a local government council, or any of the agencies of such Government or council, and the conduct of the affairs of the Government or council or such agencies shall be carried out in such manner as to recognise the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the people of the Federation.” Most political parties and multi-ethnic professional associations, have drafted their constitution, to reflect the above. The draftsmen of these constitution, understand that there are minorities that must be protected and even when minorities are in power, the majority too needs to be protected by an all-inclusive government. The Nigerian Bar Association Constitution 2015, also took this into account and provides thus; SECOND SCHEDULE ELECTIONS 2.2 ELECTION OF NATIONAL OFFICERS (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. (b)The positions of the President, 1st Vice President, 2nd Vice President, 3rd Vice President and General Secretary shall rotate among the three zones.In determining the eligibility of a candidate to contest for any of the rotated offices, regard shall be had to a candidate’s Geographical Zone of origin and not the geographical Zone where he/she carries on legal practice. (c) The Geographical Zone that produces the President of the Association shall also produce the 1stVice President. (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 (e) A list of the states that make up the zones shall be as follows: (i) Northern zone –Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara, and Abuja (ii) Eastern zone–Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Enugu, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Cross River, Imo, and Rivers (iii) Western zone– Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo. Against the above, it will be uncharitable to accuse anybody of tribalism or ethnic jingoism for seeking to abide by the provisions of both the 1999 Constitution and the 2015 NBA Constitution. Candidates before now, had all approached zonal NBA associations, sort their support and everything went smoothly. Why all these heat over adoption and endorsement of candidates? Why these veiled threats by all and sundry? Is endorsement synonymous with victory? Zonal NBA association should be seen for akin to a political party and anybody not happy with the existing structure, should leave and run as independent candidate. It will be immaturity, to remain in an association and refuse to abide by the provisions of that association. Without mincing words, every lawyer above 15yrs post call, is qualified to lead NBA and group of lawyers also have the right to aggregate themselves to find expression of their interest in one person. This is democratic as long as they willingly chose who will be their lamp bearer. (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 I humbly wish that this issue of zoning was properly couched to read and mean that your zone is the place where you reside and practice law and not your state of origin. The present provision is not progressive, if you take into account that we are laboring to abolish the issue of state of origin and replace it with state of residence in the larger Nigerian political space. Until the 2015 NBA Constitution, is repealed, amended or a new one enacted, we are stuck to respect its provisions no matter how defective we may feel it is. Finally,as we attend their parties, an evening and beach party with X or W, all pretenders to 2018 NBA Presidential election, should tone down their campaign and workout how to help the incumbent executive succeed and deliver a brave new bar. All these campaigns are distracting the NBA and I think it is great disservice to the Bar, for the Bar to be greatly divided one full year ahead of the Presidential election.]]>
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