Who the cap fits (ii)

“Quality is the result of a carefully constructed cultural environment. It has to be the fabric of the organization, not part of the fabric”.  -Philip Crosby It is a natural phenomenon in political scene for candidates seeking elective positions to promise heaven and earth to secure votes, but turn a blind eye to the promises […]

“Quality is the result of a carefully constructed cultural environment. It has to be the fabric of the organization, not part of the fabric”. 

-Philip Crosby

It is a natural phenomenon in political scene for candidates seeking elective positions to promise heaven and earth to secure votes, but turn a blind eye to the promises they made when successfully elected into office. As already established last week on ‘Poli-tricks in NBA’, every financially up-to-date member belonging to any branch of the NBA is eligible to elect officers of the national executive committee in the forthcoming national election. 

The million-dollar question is ‘Who is the right person for the job?’ The Nigerian society we live in today is difficult for the masses because of bad leadership in government, and also because the masses have allowed sentiment, ethnic and religious differences to be the yardstick for electing a person into power not merit, or competence. The same applies to the legal profession, members ought not be carried away by sentiments or beautiful brochures of the various candidates with intimidating profiles and pictures, but rather be interested in the right person for the job who will take the BAR to the next level. And am not only 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 he/she assumes office, and how we can hold him/her accountable where he/she fails to deliver on the promises made during the campaigns.

I was opportune to ask a presidential candidate how he would be different from the other politicians who promise and fail, and he ‘promised’ a six months’ review when he assumes office. I’m keeping my fingers crossed to see how things turn out.  

The right person for the job ought to be the legal professional tested through time as person of integrity and trusted as one whose word members can depend on, the various candidates should convincingly enlighten us about their personal contributions to the growth of the BAR when they held lesser positions in times past. It is not about being a member of a committee or to have served under a particular regime, NO. We ought to be able to assess a candidate’s performance in the past and what he/she can offer in this present time. 

To my mind, the right person for the job is the candidate who can actually improve, and transform the deplorable welfare condition of legal professionals in the over 100 branches of the BAR from the National Secretariat in Abuja. He/she ought to possess the technical know-how to create legal job opportunities and benefits for legal professionals who are the future of this prestigious profession, have a workable and viable roadmap to creating a better working environment for legal professionals, find a lasting solution against police brutality to legal professionals, and provide a soft financial landing for entrepreneurial legal professionals.

It is understood that the foundation of politics is interest, I humbly urge eligible voters not to allow the same political calamity that has befallen our beloved country to find its way into the BAR at the forthcoming election. The interest we should seek to protect is that of the BAR, not personal interest, but the general interest of moving 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, it is this writer’s hope that the candidate who the cap fits is voted to handle the affairs of the secretariat, as the saying going.  

God speed!

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