Mr Uche  Obi

The NBA Delegates’ Election 2010, which is to produce the next President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA,  for the next 2 years, needs a diligent, dedicated, upright, transparent and devoted patriot with tremendous international exposure to lead it into the 2nd decade of this century.

The crucial nature of this second decade in international reckoning calls for the emergence of such a person as leader of our greater association. I am thinking of a lawyer who is popular and well accepted across the 88 branches of the Association. That person, to me is Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama, SAN,  the “Okwulora” of Dunukofia in Anambra State. A recipient of the national honour of Member of the Federal Republic, a Chartered Arbitrator, former Chairman of the Abuja Branch of the NBA. Inaugural Chairman of the NBA’s SPIDEL, the Section on Public Interest and Development Law, CEDR Accredited Mediator, Member of the General Council of the Bar and Member of the National Executive Associations including; the International Bar Association, Commonwealth Lawyers Association. Pan African Lawyers Union, West African Bar Association, African Bar Association. He is a Member of the Body of Benchers, Member of the Council of Legal Education, Chairman of the Continuing Legal Education of the NBA Abuja Branch. In 2008, he was admitted into the Lincoln’s Inn in the United Kingdom.

I want to share with you all, my experience with  Gadzama, SAN. I was a Partner and the Head of Chambers of the Lagos office of J-K Gadzama & Partners between 2001 and 2007. It was a period of tremendous advancement in my life. I attended regular professional trainings along with other colleagues in chambers. Professional ethics were made to be a way of life for every lawyer in chambers.

Workshops were held on very topical National and International issues and these were highly beneficial to me. Chief Gadzama’s care for colleagues in chambers was amazing. But for the name of the Law Firm, it was difficult to recognize the founder.

There was no master-servant relationship, as every Counsel’s integrity and respect were not tampered with. Gadzama, SAN would allow superior argument and reasoning to prevail, even if from the most junior Counsel in Chambers. He consulted with colleagues in chambers, even on matters which by convention, he needed not consult. His appetite for work is contagious for any progressive mind, as he would work round the clock although he has time for recreation.

When I signaled my intention to establish my own practice in late 2006, I could read his reluctance in letting me go. He indeed persuaded me not to. This response to my desire to leave the firm appeared irregular to me, considering my previous experiences and those of other colleagues whenever they wanted to opt out of a firm.

The average principal in a Law Firm would take offence and try to blackmail the junior Counsel and vice versa. My previous experiences were like that. But my experience with Gadzama, was different. When he could not get me to stay, rather than feel insulted and offended, I received substantial measures of finance and other material resources geared towards assisting me realize my dream of setting up a functional law practice.

Above all a send-forth party was organized for me at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, during which very senior colleagues, including senior Advocates of Nigeria from across the country were present. On that occasion, the Secretary of the Premier Branch of the NBA [Lagos Branch], in his remarks at the occasion noted that, Gadzama, SAN has once again raised the Bar on how seniors should treat their junior in the Legal Profession. Other seniors who spoke agreed that they have all been challenged indeed.

I am aware that hundreds of lawyers have gone through the tutelage of  Gadzama, SAN at one time or the other. Their experiences will not be radically different from mine, except their circumstances were different. With due sense of humility, I can bet that most lawyers who passed through Gadzama, or are presently engaged in his law Firm are assets to the law profession, both intellectually and otherwise. Gadzama, SAN should be our next President. He has worked for it, he deserves it, he should get it, for the sake of an improved Bar. Consensus candidature is not new to the Bar. However, to honour him for his immense contributions to the Bar and the Legal profession in Nigeria in general, Gadzama deserves to even go unopposed. It is the wise thing to do, for indeed, the cap fits him.