An unlawful and clandestine attempt is being made to alter the eligibility criteria for voting under the Uniform Bye Laws (UBL) for the purposes of the Lagos Branch elections. We understand that the Executive Committee of the Lagos branch wrote to the President of the NBA asking him to waive the requirement to attend 5 meetings as a criterion for voting. Under the UBL, a person is eligible to vote if he or she has paid his/her practicing fee and branch dues as when due in the two years before the election and has attended 5 meetings in the twelve months before the election. Clearly, this clandestine move is aimed at defeating the resolution to conduct the NBA Lagos elections under the 2015 UBL passed by an overwhelming majority of members (175 to 75) at the Branch’s Extraordinary General Meeting(EGM) which took place on Wednesday the 28th of June 2017. It’s not clear what the motive for this unlawful move is but if the President grants such a waiver, it will be the beginning of the end of the UBL. This is because, another branch may write tomorrow asking that the requirement to pay practising fee and branch dues be waived and cite the Lagos waiver as a precedent. The wishes of members of the Lagos Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) who voted overwhelmingly for the use of the 2015 Uniform Byelaws for the conduct of elections to executive positions in the branch must be respected. It is also important to state It was also agreed at the EGM that, in order to fall within the time stipulated for elections, it has become necessary to abridge the period that was allowed for nominations and other related election activities under the 2015 Uniform Byelaws. The motion for abridgement of time was moved and carried by an overwhelming vote of members present at the EGM. Subsequently there was a suggestion that the 5 meeting attendance prerequisite for eligibility to vote at the elections should be suspended but this suggestion was roundly rejected. This clandestine move to dispense with the attendance of 5 meetings is rather unfortunate because it was clear from the EGM that members were unequivocal about the fact that the 5 meeting attendance prerequisite was a fundamental part of the 2015 Uniform Byelaws and could not be tampered with. This move to change the eligibility criteria for voting is tantamount to an attempt at pushing the goalpost in the middle of the game and would at, the very least, amount to an interference with the electoral process which the President lacks the power to grant. At each point of this very unusual electoral process the Premier Bar has stood on the side of logic and has done the right thing. It is considered that this move to tamper with a fundamental provision of the Uniform Byelaws is rather unfortunate. We therefore urge our dear President , Mr AB Mahmoud SAN, to reject the proposal to reduce the meeting requirement to attendance at 3 meetings for the purpose of this election. It would be unconstitutional to do so and would amount to a deliberate interference with a clear rule of engagement. By CHUKWUKA OKWUOSA]]>
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