NBA Election And Campaign Promises
The Nigerian Bar Association’s general election is around the corner once again. As statutorily provided, election into the executive committee of the association are conducted once every two years, and when the time draws near, credible and eligible members of the Bar throw in their hat in the race. Once upon a time, only delegates […]
The Nigerian Bar Association’s general election is around the corner once again. As statutorily provided, election into the executive committee of the association are conducted once every two years, and when the time draws near, credible and eligible members of the Bar throw in their hat in the race. Once upon a time, only delegates i.e selected members of each branch were allowed to elect officers of the executive committee, but now, once a member pays his/her practising fees, and branch dues he/she is eligible to cast vote, in simple terms, means of voting is now universal suffrage.
This has now upped the ante when it comes to campaign. Every candidate seeking elective office brings out their ‘A’ in order to secure the votes of the electorate. That is why we now see a lot of felicitations going around, visit to branches, promises are now being made on improvement of members’ welfare, opinions on state of affairs, and the likes.
As elections draw closer, candidates try as much as possible to do what is necessary to secure votes. The question is, when they get elected will they maintain the tempo? Nowadays, every candidate is accessible. After the election, will such officer remain accessible? It is a natural phenomenon in politics for candidates seeking elective positions to promise heaven and earth just to secure votes and get elected and then turn a blind eye to the promises they made when successfully elected.
The million-dollar question then is ‘Who is the right person for the job?’ The Nigerian society is where it is today because of bad leadership and also because the masses have allowed sentiment, ethnic and religious differences to be the yardstick for electing a person into power and not merit. The same applies to the legal profession, we should not be carried away with sentiments or the brochures of the various candidates with intimidating profile and pictures, but rather we should be interested in the right person for the job who will take the BAR to the next level and I am not just talking about the most coveted seat in the race being the President but all the candidates as well. If the president has the wrong team on his side he wouldn’t go far in achieving his goal for the BAR.
The right person for the job is not the candidate with beautiful manifestoes on paper but someone who can show a viable and workable plan when he/she assumes office; the right candidate should be able to tell lawyers what to expect immediately when he/she assumes office and how we can hold him/her accountable were he/she fails to deliver on the promises made during the campaigns.
The right person for the job should be someone who has been tested and now trusted, the various candidates should convincingly enlighten us about their personal contribution to the growth of the BAR when they held lesser positions in times past. It’s not just about being a member of a committee or to have served under a particular regime, NO, we should be able to assess a candidate’s performance in the past and what he/she can offer in this present time.
My point of focus, the right person for the job is the candidate who can actually improve the deplorable welfare condition of young lawyers in the over 100 branches of the BAR from the National Secretariat in Abuja and he/she must possess the technical knowhow to create legal job opportunities and benefits for the young lawyers who are the future of this prestigious profession. He/she should also have a workable and viable roadmap to getting a better working environment for the young wigs.
It is understood that the foundation of politics is interest. I humbly urge the electorates not to allow the same political calamity that has befallen this country to have its way at the forthcoming election. The interest we should seek to protect is that of the BAR. It is time to drop personal interest behind and move the BAR to greater heights for the good of the profession and the society at large.
Not every candidate will win the elections when the time comes, I only hope that the right person for the job is voted as the saying goes “… every nice piece of work needs the right person in the right place at the right time”
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