*Tells Agbor To Stop Practising NBA Politics As Profession, Says Going To Court Is Not Professional Misconduct
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Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jibrin Samuel Okutepa (SAN), has issued a sharp response to Comrade Etaba Agbor, Personal Assistant to the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), describing the young lawyer’s public rebuttal of his criticisms of the NBA’s 2026 presidential election as “cyber bullying,” “insults” and evidence of the deterioration of moral values and ethical standards in the legal profession.
Okutepa, who had earlier described the NBA election as a “pre-determined coronation” and called on security agencies to investigate those involved, said he had resolved not to speak further on NBA affairs but was “forced” to respond after Agbor publicly challenged his position on X (formerly Twitter).
In his response, Okutepa expressed regret at having to re-enter the debate, saying he had already decided to disengage from NBA matters entirely.
“It is unfortunate that I am being forced to react to this. I have decided not to speak or say anything about NBA and its affairs again. I am done with rotten systems in NBA,” Okutepa wrote.
“But having read this cyber bullying and insults from a lawyer who is about four years at the bar casting aspersions on my person and integrity as a senior lawyer, I am being forced to make this comment.”
Okutepa launched a broader indictment of the state of mentorship and professional ethics within the NBA, alleging that young lawyers were being recruited and coached to defend indefensible conduct.
“It is sad and unfortunate that NBA has gotten to where some young lawyers are being paid and taught to accept what is morally and ethically wrong as the correct things in the legal profession,” he said.
“This is the level of deterioration of moral values and ethical standards now in the legal profession that some young lawyers like Mr. Etaba Agbor have been taught in this noble profession, and that is why Etaba can come to social media to speak on an issue he does not know and he is least qualified and experienced to speak about.”
Responding directly to Agbor’s accusation that he had led a “forum-shopping” suit to the Oyo State High Court in Ibadan to disrupt the NBA election, Okutepa defended the right of lawyers to accept briefs and challenge perceived wrongs in court, describing it as a fundamental principle of law.
“First, what is wrong with lawyers going to court to challenge wrongs they are briefed by clients to challenge in the courts of law? It is not professional misconduct to accept briefs from clients, and neither Mr. Agbor nor his sponsors can sit in the comfort of their office to write a petition, act on the petition and pass judgement on the conduct of any lawyer, including myself, for accepting briefs to take NBA to court,” Okutepa stated.
“This is an elementary principle of law of considerable antiquity. Perhaps because Mr. Etaba Agbor and his sponsors are in a haste to abuse the power they think they have, they did not know this.”
Okutepa dismissed the celebration of the Court of Appeal judgment that struck down the Oyo High Court proceedings, arguing that the appellate court’s decision was based on jurisdiction rather than the substance of the case.
“For the information of the misinformed and misguided young lawyers like Mr. Etaba Agbor, whose only practice is in accepting to go around signing statements prepared for them to insult senior lawyers, I advise you to focus on real legal practice rooted in absolute respect for elders and seniors at the bar,” he said.
“The two cases I led senior lawyers to file were never frivolous. Maybe because of Mr. Etaba Agbor’s relatively young practical experience at the bar, he did not know that the decision of the Court of Appeal being celebrated by those he is fronting for did not examine the merit of the questions and or the merit of the cases.”
He specifically raised the question of whether the Election Committee of the NBA (ECNBA), which he alleged was “handpicked by his principal in gross violation of the NBA constitution and even CAMA,” was properly constituted as to number at the NEC meetings of November 2025 and February 2026.
“As lawyers, we know that an unapproved constitution cannot be used. These are live issues that were never addressed in the judgment of the Court of Appeal. Lawyers must argue these matters because it concerns their association,” Okutepa stated.
Without naming specific individuals, Okutepa accused certain NBA figures of acting dishonourably by reneging on commitments made at formal meetings.
“Again, because of Mr. Etaba Agbor’s age at the bar and the fact that he may not even know that lawyers must be bound by their words, he may not know that a lawyer cannot attend a meeting and agree to do something and turn round to do another thing completely,” he said.
“It is dishonourable to do so. It shows lack of integrity and it shows dishonesty. It is bad and sad to do so. The nobility of the legal profession forbids it.”
Okutepa turned Agbor’s “forum shopping” accusation on its head, arguing that criminalising the act of filing suits against the NBA amounted to an assault on the justice system itself.
“If going to court was an offence, it means Mr. Etaba Agbor and his sponsors should advocate for the abolition of the courts in Nigeria so that Nigerians can resort to jungle justice, as he is learning to think,” Okutepa said.
The senior lawyer concluded with a pointed piece of advice to Agbor, urging him to abandon what he described as a career built on political service to NBA power brokers and focus on substantive legal practice.
“In the finest of traditions of the bar, and as a father who has trained children that are lawyers and are far older at the bar than Mr. Etaba Agbor, I advise Mr. Agbor to stop practising NBA politics as a profession,” Okutepa said.
“Learn how law is practised, and once you are well schooled in the finest of the traditions of the bar, you will then appreciate that the rule of law is not the same thing as the system you support in your alleged rejoinder to my opinion.”
He added: “The rule of law, which NBA is all about, does not admit of manipulations and the end justifies the means.”
Okutepa said his greatest concern was not the personal attack against him but the broader pattern of young lawyers being deployed on social media to silence dissent within the Association.
“Much more worrisome to me is the degree of how standards have fallen in NBA, that some young lawyers are being encouraged to go to social media to speak on something they lack knowledge of and to insult their seniors who disagree with their sponsors,” he said.
The latest salvo from Okutepa is the third round in an increasingly bitter public exchange between the senior lawyer and the NBA President’s camp.
Okutepa had initially posted on X on July 21, describing the 2026 NBA presidential election as a “sham” and a “pre-determined coronation,” alleging that successive elections since 2016 had been cyber-rigged by cabals, and calling on security agencies to investigate. He accused the NBA leadership of running the Association with “despotic and dictatorship” tendencies, alleged that National Officers had been reduced to figureheads, and challenged lawyers who supported the outcome to “stop pontificating as apostles of the rule of law and due process.”
Agbor responded by accusing Okutepa of leading a forum-shopping suit in the Oyo State High Court to disrupt the election, questioning his commitment to universal suffrage after the senior lawyer described it as “so-called universal suffrage,” and alleging that the presidential candidate supported by Okutepa had proposed a last-minute change to the OTP authentication system that contributed to the difficulties experienced on Election Day. Agbor argued that “accountability cannot be selective” and that reforms should be pursued through “constitutional means, evidence-based proposals, and respect for democratic choice.”
Okutepa’s latest response makes clear that, despite his stated intention to disengage from NBA affairs, the governance dispute within the legal profession’s apex body remains far from settled.
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