NBA elections crisis thickens ahead D-Day

As the July 28 and 29 D-Day for the 29th elections of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) gets nearer, observers are worried at the brewing crisis in the association. Among the major causes of the conflict is the decision to disqualify a presidential aspirant, Afam Osigwe.  The mood of the elections became clearer on June […]

As the July 28 and 29 D-Day for the 29th elections of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) gets nearer, observers are worried at the brewing crisis in the association. Among the major causes of the conflict is the decision to disqualify a presidential aspirant, Afam Osigwe. 

The mood of the elections became clearer on June 13, when the results of the screening of candidates for national offices of the NBA were released and Osigwe’s name was listed as “not cleared”. 

The Professor Auwalu Yadudu (SAN)-led Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) called a stakeholders’ meeting on June 18, where the list of the nominations was discussed without much action taken to address the issue. 

The forum was attended by the cleared aspirants for the association’s presidency, which has been zoned to the Eastern Zone, with Arthur Obi-Okafor (SAN); Usoro Paul Usoro (SAN); and Prof. Ernest Ojukwu (SAN) as aspirants. 

Those nominated for other national offices include Stanley Chidozie, first vice president; Benedict Nwosa Oji, Foluke Dada, John Aikpokpo-Martins, Habeeb Adetunji, Oludare Akande for second vice president. Abimbola Sunday, Odo Okechukwu and Theophilus Igba were cleared to contest for third vice president.

The NBA also cleared Musa Ya’u, Mas’Udmobolaji Alabelewe, Ojibara Idris, Rafiu Balogun and Jonathan Taidi for general secretary.

Also, Obianuju Okafor, Mercy Agada and Olagbegi Banke were nominated for treasurer, while Elias Anosike and Dorcas Ngwu will contest for financial secretary. 

Osigwe had explored the seven days window for appeal given to all the disqualified candidates by ECNBA, which have now expired. He is threatening to take further action if the issues surrounding his disqualification are not rectified.  

However, Prof. Yadudu said Osigwe was not disqualified, but that he had his submission “queried” which was the basis for his non-clearance. He added that the association was looking into his appeal with a view to resolving the issue. 

Osigwe, who is a former Chairman of the NBA, Abuja Branch, between 2011 and 2012; General Secretary of the NBA between 2014 and 2016, relocated his law practice from Abuja to Nnewi in January 2018. This move has been at the centre of his disqualification as ECNBA claimed that his membership of the new branch could not be verified within the window for the screening.

The electoral body had listed three reasons for Osigwe’s disqualification: “One, that there is no evidence before the committee to show that you have paid your annual dues and other financial obligations to Nnewi Branch as and when due for at least three years immediately preceding this years’ elections.

“Two, that there is no satisfactory proof of your relocation to Nnewi Branch to accommodate you within the window of exception created by the proviso to Paragraph 4(1) of the Third Schedule to the NBA Constitution, 2015, as amended.

“Three, that payment of 2016 and 2017 Branch Annual Dues cannot be verified.”

The Nnewi Branch of the NBA has written to the national body confirming that Mazi Osigwe became a member of their branch in January 2018 and had informed the branch of his relocation to Nnewi in a letter dated January 5, 2018. 

The Chairman of the branch, E. C. Chikaelo, Esq. confirmed that he hosted the branch’s meeting of January 26, and had also paid his Annual Branch Dues as provided by the law.

“We have also written to the Chairman, ECNBA, confirming the relocation and membership of Mazi Afam Osigwe. In that letter dated June 14, 2018, we informed the Chairman of the ECNBA that Mazi Afam Osigwe has his residence at No. 4 Odajuo Lane, Okpuno Nnewichi, Nnewi, and that he carries on his legal practice at No. 10 Dala Ucha Street, Okpunoegbu Umudim Nnewi. We stated in that letter that Mazi Afam Osigwe’s name appeared at No. 86 in the voters’ list sent to the ECNBA by the Nnewi Branch,” he said. 

Osigwe himself has insisted that he will not accept any outcome that forecloses his participation in the elections, maintaining that “there is nothing in Section 8(3)(a) of the NBA Constitution that requires such a person must have paid ‘his/her practicing fees and Branch Dues, as and when due, for three  consecutive years, inclusive of the year of elections.’”

He pointed out some interests in the association, who he said were not favourably disposed to his candidacy because he was not yet a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), adding that they were also threatened by his popularity among young lawyers who constituted 60 per cent of NBA membership. 

“I, therefore, respectfully submit that the reasons given for not clearing my nomination is with due respect not covered by the 2015 Constitution of the NBA. In fact, my disqualification appears to lend credence to the boasting of some highly placed persons in the association, and that not being a senior advocate, I will not be allowed to contest in this elections,” he said.

Observers are worried about a recurrence of the crisis that marred the association’s elections in 2016 when J.K. Gadzama (SAN), the opponent to incumbent President, A.B. Mahmoud (SAN), rejected the outcome of the elections despite it sufficiently increasing membership participation through the online voting. The dispute dragged on in court until 2018.

The NBA is the major profession for social engineering, defence of rule of law, and constitutional democracy. It is, therefore, the last profession that should allow itself to be mired in the cesspool of the acrimonious politics often observed in the wider Nigerian politics. Justice and fairness in the NBA elections will permeate the entire country, especially in the run-up to the 2019 general elections.