I watched with utter disbelief and dismay the recent stage-managed and show of shame called protest by some of our colleagues under the guise of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Aba Branch over the state of roads in the commercial city.

Though it did not come to many of us who were aware of the plot ahead of its execution as a great surprise, because we knew that it was a well-hatched plot by some failed politicians in the state led a former governor of the state who used some of our colleagues to execute it in a bid to settle political scores with state government.

It could be recall that throughout the administration of Governor Theodore Orji’s predecessor in the state, NBA Aba Branch was almost an appendage of the state government for what the leadership then was selfishly benefitting from the government.

This was despite the high level of misgovernance and total neglect of basic infrastructures in the state, especially in Aba. The only thing we witnessed in the city then was the introduction of the Bakassi Boys as security men by the state government. The group later transformed to political thugs to deal with perceived political enemies of the state government.

The group extra-judicially wasted lives of many innocent citizens in the state and many prominent Abia people were chased out of the State. It took the intervention of the Federal Government to checkmate and disband the group, but none of its members was made to face the wrath of the law.

When Orji assumed office in 2007 as the governor of the State, the NBA Aba Branch leadership was nowhere to be found, even when Governor Orji’s government was clearly hijacked and held hostage by forces engineered by his predecessor and his mother to detriment of of the people of the state. The infrastructures in the state were in shambles.

But since Orji succeeded in liberating himself and the state treasury from his political tormentors, the leadership of NBA Aba branch has become a torn in his flesh and has never seen anything good in his government. This is despite all his government has done in the judiciary sector by providing basic amenities like houses, offices and other basic things for easy dispensation of justice in the state.

The Branch leadership made itself handy as a pawn in the chessboard of Orji’s political enemies, especially his predecessor, to cause confusion in the state. And this could be seen by the recent show of shame called protest by some lawyers in Aba recently.

It could be recall that before the recent protest, the leadership of the Branch has dragged the state government to court over the appointment of Chief Judge of the State.

This is even when they are in a position to know more than any other person the constitutional provisions for the appointment of both acting and substantive State Chief Judge which Governor Orji has not violated any by his actions so far.

Constitutionally, it is not the duty of the leadership of NBA to decide who should be appointed the Chief Judge of the State. They have no business in the appointment of members of the Bench. Doing so under any guise as being done by the leadership of NBA Aba Branch smack of suspicion and ulterior motives.

What should be of utmost concern to the leadership of the Bar and every other Nigerian should be the speedy and just dispensation of justice and not the appointment of judges. But in Abia State today,  the leadership of the NBA in Aba has made itself a stumbling block in the appointment of the State Chief Judge.

It is obvious to Nigerians that since Justice Ayo Salami was suspended from office as the President of Court of Appeal, his successor, Justice Dalhatu Adamu has been functioning in acting capacity and nobody, including the leadership of the NBA at the national level has dragged the Federal Government to court over the appointment or non-appointment of a substantive President of Court of Appeal.

This is because the action of the government is not unconstitutional. So what does Aba Branch of NBA want from the Abia State government?

At the peak of the kidnapping saga that grounded Aba then, the only contribution and advice by the NBA leadership in the city on how to tackle the menace was the call for Orji to resign for his failure to secure the city.

Today, Governor Orji’s government has restored security in the city by wiping off the kidnappers that once grounded the city, and we are all back in the city to continue our practice again. Before the recent sponsored protest, it was in the open that a former governor of the state has compromised the leadership of the Bar in the city through one Anambra born lawyer based in the city who is also a close friend of a Lagos based senior lawyer from Anambra State. That was why majority of our colleagues who disagreed with leadership stayed away from charade called protest.

It is clear that the notoriety and confrontational approach of the  leadership of the Bar in the commercial city against the state government has become too much of a shame, embarrassment and suspicion to the noble profession.

Since the state government announced its plan to demolish 18,000 houses built on drainage channels in the city in order to pave way for easy de-flooding, owners of the marked buildings for demolition have been meeting with some opposition politicians in the state and the leadership of the NBA in the city to perfect strategies on how to use frivolous court injunctions to frustrate government’s plan in that direction. Apart from this, they are also working with some acclaimed civil society organisations to thwart government plans.

This is even when the NBA leadership know that government’s move is in the interest of the majority of the people in the city and that most owners of the houses built illegally without government approval.

With this, how can one justify the Bar leadership’s criticisms and opposition against the Abia State government? It has been often insinuated in some quarters that lawyers were the problems of the country’s democracy, especially at this point that every Dick or Harry appears to be a lawyer without sound knowledge of the law.

With the proliferation of universities in the country, law profession just like every other profession, has suffered low quality products. That is why one can see those who called themselves learned men being paid to protest like members of civil society organisations in order to get their daily bread. This is when their colleagues who are worth their onions are busy in courts arguing cases for their clients.

Why didn’t the Bar leadership in the city go to other parts of the state to protest over the state of roads? Is it only in Aba that there are bad roads in Nigeria? Even in Onitsha which the Bar Branch chairman claimed that traders now preferred to Aba in terms of trading, there are so many bad roads there inspite of the fact that the market is the biggest in the West Africa with so much revenue for Anambra State.

Onitsha Branch of NBA has not taken to the streets to protest over bad roads in the city knowing full well that Onitsha is not the only city in the state and that the state government has other challenges confronting it.

I have been in Aba for almost two decades now, I know the infrastructural challenges in the city and effort of successive governments in tackling them, I can say with every sense of modest and sincerity that the present government in the state has tried more than any other one before in tackling the problems in the city.

Mrs Gladys Nwajioku, a legal practitioner, wrote from Aba