NBA Crisis: Conduct Of Exco Unbecoming, Says Adegboruwa

Lagos-based lawyer and activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), on Thursday, described the ongoing crisis within the leadership of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) as condemnable, and a failure in following the due process of law.

Adegboruwa stated that the events unfolding at the national executive council of the Bar Association, in relation to the suspension or purported suspension of the general secretary is unbecoming and deserving of condemnation by all lovers of the legal profession.

According to him, some members of the national executive council of the NBA claimed to have suspended the general secretary, Mrs. Joyce Oduah and in response, she proceeded to the court to challenge the said suspension and all the parties in the said suit have been duly notified of her pending application for an order of injunction, whilst some of the defendants in the said suit have challenged the jurisdiction of the court.

He added that “this case has thrown open the underbelly of legal practice in Nigeria, as this is what plays in virtually all courts between parties in most cases where judicial intervention is sought for one cause or the other. In this case, it is clear that the NBA president and those loyal to him are bent on holding on to the suspension of the general secretary whilst on the other hand the general secretary seeks to hold on to her office based on the pronouncements of the Court and the case pending.

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Adegboruwa emphasised that the motto of the NBA is RULE OF LAW and it behooves on the president of the bar to err on the said of the law, even if it involves sacrifices on his part.

“This has been the stance of Mr. Olumide Akpata himself throughout his tenure in dealing with important national matters, for which many lawyers and lovers of the rule of law and due process have hailed him. He should have upheld those ideals and principles for which he had sought to hold others accountable throughout his tenure. To the extent that it was reported that the name of the general secretary was deliberately omitted from the brochure and programmes of the annual general conference was pursuing unbridled pettiness on the part of the NBA exco.

“In sending emails to NBA members through her own personal email, whilst the court is yet to pronounce finally on her pending application for injunction, or even the substantive suit, she has unwittingly thrown the NBA into confusion and disrepute, which action was totally unnecessary in the circumstances of this case,” he added.

Adegboruwa appealed to all the parties to the suit to put themselves under restraint to follow the due process of law and not throw lawyers into public opprobrium and disrepute by their resort to self-help. The NBA owes Nigeria the duty to lead by example and to use this case as a reference point of how lawyers and parties should conduct themselves in the course of prosecution of their causes in court.

“I, therefore, call upon leaders of the Bar and all other stakeholders to intervene to get the parties in this case to abide by the known tenets of due process and the rule of law. Should they continue in their selfish recourse to self-help, then the entire exco should be disbanded totally so that we can save the reputation and image of the Nigerian Bar Association,” he concluded.
Tribune