‘We should all enjoy benefits of NBA’

Some people have referred to you as a stranger in the Bar, what makes you feel you are qualified for the NBA presidency?Those who see a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in active legal practice, who designed a website but are still saying he is a stranger, are special specie. They are specie that doesn’t mean […]

Some people have referred to you as a stranger in the Bar, what makes you feel you are qualified for the NBA presidency?
Those who see a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in active legal practice, who designed a website but are still saying he is a stranger, are special specie. They are specie that doesn’t mean well for the Bar. I am not surprised with that because out of 12, there must be a Judas. We have about 120, 000 lawyers in this country and I know there are few who are myopic.
My intention if I am elected NBA president is to reform them. I say without fear that those who call me a stranger are those who have been profiting from the Bar. I have sacrificed so much for the Bar in this country and there are some people who believe in profiting from the Bar.
The fear of the few people is that I will refuse to be part of their illegal dealings. About 99.9 percent of lawyers share my views. They don’t believe that a few people should be using the Bar to profit. We should all enjoy the benefits that come to the association together. I served as the chairman of the committee that reviewed the last election and the petitions that arose from it; I served as the chairman of the organising committee of the NBA conference and I am also a member of the NBA house project. I consider myself a Bar man to the core. Since I was called to the Bar in the mid-80s, I have been in active legal practice. I run Chambers with about 50 lawyers across the country. I have been chairman of the NBA data base committee. The committee was able to set up the data base in 60 days.
Do you agree that democratic structures should be suspended and total state of emergency should be enforced in the north eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe instead of the democratised state of emergency now in place now?
A wrong of 100 years remains a wrong if not corrected. The fact that somebody interpreted the constitution wrongly does not make it right. I do not see what is wrong in the state of emergency declared by the president in the three northeast states. I do not believe that democratic structures should be suspended because of the state of emergency in those areas. It is not in line with the provisions of the constitution.
What is your advice for your co-contestants?
This is a professional association and we should be civil and campaign with decorum. Everyone who is contesting should be civil in their campaign and not make the election a do-or-die affair. We should campaign with respect and decorum in a way that will uplift the profession.
Many lawyers have always complained about conference fees, what do you hope to do differently if you are elected?
When we were planning our 2012 conference, we were thinking of getting a guest lecturer from abroad but on the other hand, we decided to look inwards and get somebody that we believe could give us what anyone we are bringing in from abroad will offer. After much deliberation, we decided to go for Reverend Matthew Kukah. The lecture he delivered that day was so rich that even, the president, whom we thought was going to declare the conference open and leave stayed throughout. If we had brought somebody from abroad, it would have cost us so much. The only thing his coming to the conference cost us was his flight ticket from Sokoto to Abuja.
I will make sure that the conference is affordable to all lawyers and will also ensure that lawyers get value for their money. We will also make sure that lawyers from other countries in Africa send representatives to attend. We have the capacity to make our conference very interesting.
In your manifesto you promise proper notification to lawyers when courts are not sitting, how do you intend doing this?
If a judge is not sitting, counsel should be told on time to avoid waste of time and resources. There should be synergy between the Bar and the Bench. Why should I travel from Kaduna to Abuja for a case that is not holding? The Bar and the Bench need to work hand in hand. Apart from the transport fare involved, why should I take the risk of travelling from one state to the other for a case only for the court not to sit? If a court will not be sitting, the judge should tell the registrar to issue hearing notices to parties involved. Imagine a lawyer who was going for a case and died on the way and at the burial, the judge handling the case confessed that he was not going to sit on that day.
The NBA presidency is zoned to the South West, where do you stand?
NBA has three zones which are the North, East and the West. Any argument that I am not from the core South West is borne out of mischief. There is no southwest in the NBA. NBA is running the 1963 structure of Nigeria. Why is it that when it is zoned to the south, it goes to a particular section of the southwest?  I am of the view that zoning should be respected with its intent and purposes. The essence of zoning is for power to reach every zone.