The 183 lawyers who requisitioned an extraordinary general meeting of the Owerri Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association have reconvened it for Thursday, 15 October 2026, at 2.00pm, four days after the gate of the Magistrates Court Complex that houses the Branch’s Bar Centre was found padlocked and armed police officers were posted at it.
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The notice, signed by Chidi B. Nworka, Esq., for and on behalf of the requisitionists, is circulated as a reminder. It carries the venue as the Bar Centre, Magistrates Court Complex, off Orlu Road, Owerri, and adds a fallback: “should the Bar Centre be inaccessible, then the Hon. Justice P. C. Onumajulu Square, within the same premises.”
The agenda is a single item: “Issues arising from the receipt and disbursement of the N100 million Naira Conference Gift received from the Imo State government, and all other issues incidental thereto.”
For the first time in this dispute, the requisitionists have identified the provision they say the Branch Chairman breached, and distinguished it from the provision they say they are now acting under.
The notice opens:
“Gentlemen of the Bar, sequel to the deliberate refusal by the Chairman of this Branch, Dr. Mazi Udegbulem, to act in obedience to the mandatory duty imposed on him under Article 11(4) of our Bye-law: to wit: direct the Secretary to issue a notice of the meeting requisitioned within 7 days, the 183 members of this Branch who so Requisitioned, acting pursuant to Article 11(5) of our said Bye-law, had fixed the Extraordinary General Meeting of this Branch to hold today: Saturday, October 10, 2026, by 2pm, at the Bar Centre, within the Magistrates Court Complex.”
Two provisions are therefore in play on the requisitionists’ account. Article 11(4) is said to impose a mandatory duty on the Chairman, on receipt of a valid requisition, to direct the Secretary to issue notice of the requisitioned meeting within seven days. Article 11(5) is said to be the consequence of a failure to do so: the requisitionists may themselves convene the meeting.
That is the architecture of a self-help provision, and it is familiar. The same structure appears in company law, where members holding the prescribed proportion may requisition a general meeting, the board must proceed within a stated period to convene it, and on the board’s default the requisitionists may convene it themselves and recover their expenses from the company. If Article 11 of the Uniform Bye-Law follows that model, as the notice implies, the requisitionists’ legal position does not depend on the Chairman’s reasons. It depends only on whether a valid requisition was served, and whether seven days passed without the direction being given.
The notice records the events of Saturday, 10 October 2026, in two paragraphs.
“Members of this Branch gathered at the scheduled time at the entrance gate of the said court complex, only to discover that the gate is tightly locked, allegedly on the orders of the Chief Registrar of the Imo State High Court.”
“Furthermore, there was the presence of heavily armed police men further blocking access to the gate. These police officers were allegedly brought sequel to a petition ostensibly written by Killiwee-Nwachukwu, Esq.”
On that basis the notice states the fresh convening:
“Consequent upon the foregoing, the 183 Requitionists, in furtherance of their rights/powers under Article 11(5) of our said Bye-law, hereby convene the Extraordinary General Meeting of this Branch.”
TheNigeriaLawyer has now reported six instruments or events in this dispute, and the seventh document is the notice reported here.
Wednesday, 7 October 2026. A petition is said to have been written against members of the Branch and taken to the police.
Friday, 9 October 2026. Chinedu Maurice Agu is reported to have been invited and held by the police in connection with the petition.
Saturday, 10 October 2026. Members gather for the requisitioned meeting. The gate of the Magistrates Court Complex is padlocked, said to be on the Chief Registrar’s orders. Armed police are posted at the gate.
Monday, 12 October 2026. A WhatsApp message attributed to Mr. Agu warns that an application is to be made to restrain the meeting, and characterises it as an application to be heard without notice to the other side. Neither of the two messages he published uses that description.
Tuesday, 13 October 2026. Professor Chidi Odinkalu publicly urges the judges of Imo State to steer clear of the dispute.
Wednesday, 14 October 2026. The reminder reported here is circulated, reconvening the meeting for the following day.
Five separate levers have now been applied to one meeting: a police petition, an administrative directive said to have come from the Chief Registrar, a detention, a padlock, and a proposed injunction. The meeting has not been held. Neither has it been abandoned.
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