“…As promised in my inauguration address, we have ensured that we fulfil our promise to entrench transparency and accountability in the affairs of the Association. We have also taken steps and made positive efforts in making the Bar more united and stronger through an all inclusive governance model where every member of the Association is made fully aware of the activities of the Association with good feedback mechanism .We believe that a united Bar will complement our efforts at entrenching the promotion of rule of law and respect for human rights. While we shall continue to count on you support in this regard, we are also receptive to fair criticisms that will move the Bar forward…” While there is no any need to disagree with the NBA President at the moment, I am always of the view that every citizen with good ideas must be a “special adviser” to those in government on the best way to do things which is what informed the reason why this open letter has become necessary to the Mr. President. My dear President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), you will recall that during your inauguration address as the new president of our association, you highlighted some of the problems confronting the association and promised to make fundamental reforms. According to your good self in the said address, you declared that: “Turning to the 2018 NBA National Election, it is common ground amongst everyone that a review of our electoral systems and values is urgently required. In coming weeks, I‘ll constitute a Committee to review and recommend required reforms for and of our electoral processes. Still on our electoral processes, one significant lacuna that came out from the last elections is lack of electronic data in respect of our members. The most difficult and tortuous of the processes during the elections was the electronic capturing of our members’ data and the verification of same .It is rather unfortunate and regrettable that Africa’s pre-eminent Bar Association underwent such pains and pangs as we suffered in the processes of capturing and verifying our membership data. As a matter of urgency, we would set in motion the process for electronically capturing and preserving our membership data, amongst others, for purposes of preventing a repeat of our very unpleasant data capture and verification experience in the last elections. As a complement to the Electoral Review Committee, we’ll also constitute a Constitution Review Committee to look at and recommend required amendments and changes to the NBA Constitution. I qualify this as complementary to the electoral process because, it is most likely that the review of our electoral processes would necessitate a corresponding amendment of our Constitution .Beyond that, however most of the reform programs which we committed to during our campaigns, would most certainly required matching amendments of our Constitution.” Sir, I have gone this length to remind your eminence of the promise of reforms you made on coming into the office. These reforms are indeed necessary because I am of the view that the NBA political system as we have it today is to some extent undemocratic and discriminatory. If machinery is not put in place to rectify this, our continued claim of having an all inclusive Bar in place will be nothing but a mere hypocrisy. I have in the past once likened the NBA political system to the similarity of what was obtained in the George Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM where it was propounded that : “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than the others”. The reason for this was that I found it difficult as a lawyer to comprehend a situation where an association of learned people that prides itself as promoting the rule of law would insert in its constitution provisions that are unjustifiable discriminatory. It is unfortunate that we have an association of learned people whose majority are not well familiar with the contents of its Constitution of the association. When I was disqualified to run for a position as National officer in the last elections on the ground that I was not a NEC member, many members expressed their surprise as to whether that was actually the position in the NBA constitution and my response was in affirmative and that that was what I had wanted to bring to the attention of the members of the Association who care to know. I was not disqualified on the grounds that I did not meet the post year qualification, not on the ground that I did not pay my annual practice fee and branch due as at when due, not because I have never served as branch officer but merely because I was not a member of NEC whose composition I have argued somewhere else is undemocratic. If membership of some NEC members can be democratically justified, I am of the view that of some others cannot be justified particularly those who are co-opted into the NEC without any elections. I decided not go to court to challenge my disqualification even if only to pray the court to declare my disqualification as discriminatory and undemocratic .This is so I because I do not believe in being desperate when seeking for a political office. Sir, a political system that unjustly disenfranchises majority of its membership from participating in its political affairs cannot be said to be truly democratic. The NBA political system we operate today is not truly democratic except we are trying to deceive ourselves because how comes that lawyers that have the same post years qualification, pay the same amount for bar practicing fee and branch due and equally take part in the activities of the association but only to be discriminated against when it comes to vying for positions as National Officers of the Association. The irony of the system we operate in NBA is that for instance, a Vice Chairman of any branch who is not co-opted to the NEC cannot vie for any substantive position of as National Officer except a position of Assistant substantive National officer. On the other hand, a lawyer who never takes part in any NBA activities even at branch level but by favoutism or nepotism gets co-opted into the NEC stands a better chance than the Vice Chairman earlier referred to. While I again want to agree with your eminence that the NBA is in need of serious reforms as you enumerated above, the best solution and the way forward is to set up a Committee as you rightly stated above to review some provisions in the present NBA Constitution. The said Committee will do well to call for memorandum, suggestions and recommendations from members of the association with the view to have on the ground a strong and dynamic constitution that will meet the international standard and stand the test of time. If your leadership strives to achieve this, you would have succeeded in bringing the desired revolution into the NBA system. Surely ,your names will continue to be on the positive side of NBA history. Sir, this is part of my take on how to move the Bar forward. I remain yours sincerely. EXIT OF ALHAJI SHEHU SHAGARI (GCFR) Just last week, I featured on this platform the issue as to whether Nigeria as a nation should switch from the presidential system of government to the parliamentary system of government. Mention was made of the First Executive President of Nigeria during the Second Republic in person of Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari who is now late. Alhaji Shagari died on the Friday 28th December 2018 at the age of 93 in Abuja. He ruled the country between 1st October 1979 to 31st December 1983 when his government was ousted in a military coup. Shagari had been actively involved in the Nigerian politics as far back as pre-independent Nigeria. He was a parliamentarian and minister during the First Republic when the late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was the Prime Minister till 1966 when that government was toppled. Later and upon the resignation of Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Commissioner of Finance from General Yakubu Gowon government ,Alhaji Shehu Shagari was appointed to that position and was there until Gowon was overthrown in 1976 and General Murtala Muhammed became the Head of State, He promised to return the nation to the democratic government in 1979. Alhaji Shagari was the presidential candidate of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) during 1979 general elections when he locked horns with the presidential candidates of the other five political parties including the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN),who was his main contender in the elections which eventually became controversial and fought up to the Supreme Court in the case of AWOLOWO Vs SHAGARI (1979) 6-9 SC 51 where Shagari was declared the winner of the elections by the Apex Court panel of 6 against 1. He was sworn in on 1st October 1979 and power handed over to him by General Olusegun Obasanjo. Subsequently, Alhaji Shehu Shagari , an upright and selfless man unfortunately found himself in the midst corrupt and selfish politicians who turned his government upside down and brought its waterloo. He was a typical example of the truism that “a man is judged by company he keeps”. Anyone that was lucky to meet him one on one during his life times would agree with me that he was a right honourable gentleman and an epitome of humility. About 20 years ago and as the leader of campus journalists, I led the Executives of the National Association of Campus Journalists (NACJ) to his residence in Sokoto and subsequent had an exclusive interview with him. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (also known as “Abami Eda” ) was said to have said about Shagari in an interview granted in 1982 that “…Shagari himself is not dangerous but he surrounds himself with dangerous people…” With exit of this great man and an elder statesman, we condole with all Nigerians and his family in particular and pray the Almighty Allah to accept him and bless his soul. REMARKABLE PRONOUNCEMENT ON ELECTION PETITION “Learned Senior Counsel for the appellant claimed in his submission, that the result of election showed that there was no winner and no loser .If election produced neither winner nor loser against who, by who and upon what grounds can an election petition be brought? It is a candidate or a party who lost the election that can file a petition against the winner as respondent .See S. 137 (1) (2) of the Act…A no –winner, no-loser situation does not constitute a ground of presenting an election petition under the Act or the Constitution.” Per NGWUTA , JSC in C.P.C. Vs. INEC (2011) 18 NWLR (Pt. 1279) Pg. 578 Paras G-H THE SETTLED PRINCIPLE OF LAW On election petition as sui generis “It is trite law that matters of election petition are regarded as sui generis. Hence rules that govern them are most of the time different from rules that govern other civil actions.” See UZODINMA Vs. UDENWA (2004) ALL FWLR (Pt. 213) Pg. 1844, Para B For more Settled Principles of Law and Remarkable Pronouncements from our Supreme Court Jurists from 1956-2016, obtain or order for your copies of LAW PRACTICE KIT and LEGAL LUMINARIES. Call or text 08055476823, 08164683735 or email:rasheedibraheem68@yahoo.com. Your library is incomplete without these books. 30th December 2018]]>

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