*Says Mrs Oduah Committed Other Infractions Which Will Be Exposed By Others
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On Monday, the legal profession was welcomed into the new week by a resolution from an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee of the Association which announced the immediate suspension of the General Secretary, Joyce Oduah.
Another document which accompanied the resolution was an internal memo to the National Officers listing the grounds for her suspension.
The first ground was an alleged “LACK OF PROPER TEMPERAMENT EXPECTED OF THE GENERAL SECRETARY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SECRETARIAT STAFF”.
According to the memo, “The General Secretary in one instance physically assaulted a staff and a member of the Association, Mr. Ndifreke Aquaisua when she without provocation or lawful reason slapped him in the office. Suffice it to say that the young man resigned his appointment due to that incident. The working atmosphere in the national secretariat is totally abysmal due to the overbearing, discourteous, tigerish and oppressing attitude of General Secretary. By her general disposition to the staff of the national secretariat, particularly with reference to the physical assault of Mr. Aquaisua, there is no doubt that she has brought the Association to disrepute.”
This revelation has triggered reactions and shock from amongst legal practitioners whom have since struggled to ascertain the veracity of the claim.
In a telephone interview with TheNigeriaLawyer correspondent this morning, the said lawyer, Mr Ndifreke Aquaisua confirmed the claim made by the NBA leadership which led to his resignation from the Secretariat.
Narrating his ordeal in the hands of Mrs Joyce Oduah, Ndifreke said she committed several sacrileges in the Secretariat during his time there. He also recalled that the suspended General Secretary physically assaulted him with what he described as “very hot slaps” more than once.
Detailing what the incident reported by the NBA, Ndifreke said: “It was on the 8th of October, 2020 after the birthday of the NBA President which was celebrated at the Secretariat that year. After the celebrations, there were lot of activities going on at the Secretariat and I stayed there until 10pm (which was quite late giving the distance of my house from the Secretariat), and the unavailability of transport to that axis during late hours.
It was against this background that I accepted the ride offered by another staff who was driving home at the time and promised to drop me at a place where I’ll easily get public transport to my home. I later got home around 11:30pm that night.” He said.
He further narrated that at the Secretariat the next day, Mrs Joyce Oduah had inquired of him how he got home from the Secretariat the previous night knowing he stayed late at work, and before he finished explaining how a fellow staff assisted him, he said “I received a slap! A very hot slap on my face! She asked me Ndi, Did I bring you to Abuja to start following people”?
On his previous relationship with the General Secretary, he said as one of those who was at the forefront of her campaign for General Secretary in 2020, she invited him to come work with her at the Secretariat as Executive Assistant to the General Secretary. According to him, he was letter employed as regular staff of the Secretariat, and said he had to resign from the Secretariat due to the abusive working environment under Mrs Joyce.
Recall that a series of controversies have rocked the NBA leadership recently stemming from a disagreement between the General Secretary and the other National Officers over the proposed constitutional amendments scheduled for the NBA Annual General Meeting.
On Tuesday, Mrs Joyce Oduah dragged all the National Officers to Court for what she described as her “unlawful suspension”.
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