By INNOCENT ANABA

Chief Ferdinand Orbih, SAN, is Chairman of Midwest Lawyers Forum, MLF. In this interview spoke on his emergence as Chairman of the Forum including the calls for the abolition of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, corruption on the bench, position of the Midwest Lawyers Forum on the 2014 national Nigerian Bar Association, NBA election, among others issues.

Excerpt:

HOW did your executive emerge?

The executive emerged through consensus in a very peaceful way at the election that was conducted at Effurun, Delta State. It may interest you to know that I did not wish to be chairman but when the position was zoned by the Forum to Edo State, all the chairmen in Edo State that is the Chairmen of Auchi, Ekpoma and Benin Branches of the NBA and other prominent members of these branches held consultations and decided to approach my humble self to take over the leadership of the forum. Other members of the executive  were all returned unopposed.

What does the Midwest Lawyers Forum stand for?

It  is an umbrella body for all lawyers in Edo and Delta States, which the members formed to protect their collective interest. It has been in existence for quite sometimes under the leadership of Chief Albert Akpomuje, SAN, who was on the leadership saddle for a period of 10 years.

What would attract your immediate attention as you assume office?

We have no option but to build on the achievements of my predecessor. Our vision for the forum is to make it relevant for the welfare of its members at all times and in all situations. We intend to change the general perception that the forum is mainly therefore, the purpose of organising its members for NBA national elections.

There are things we can do beyond that. We can for instance encourage our rural branches to organise professional related activities such as Branch Law Week to ensure continuing legal education for members, annual bar dinners for such branches, in order to create opportunities for members to interact at a social level, and above all take a critical look at areas where the welfare of members of the forum can be improved upon.

What is the level of cohesion and cooperation amongst the branches that make up the Midwest Forum which spread across Edo and Delta states?

The level of cohesion is good. The fact that we conducted a potentially divisive exercise of electing officers for the forum, recently at Effurun, Delta State, free of any form of rancour or discord, is a pointer to the level of understanding and cohesion within the group. As I told you a short while ago, all members of my executive emerged by consensus. There can be no greater evidence of cohesion than that.

*Chief Ferdinand Orbih, SAN

Would there be likely challenges in running the forum and do you intend to deal with such challenges when they arise?

I cannot envisage any challenge for now. I am a strong advocate of the philosophy that you do not cross a bridge until you get to it. That is not to say that we shall have a smooth sail throughout. All I am saying is that we have the capacity to surmount any challenge or obstacle that may come our way in the course of attaining our set goals and objectives.

There have been  this perceived ambiguity in the relationship between Egbe Amofin in the South-West and Midwest Lawyers Forum. In the unofficial NBA zonal arrangements, can you clarify the status of Midwest as it applies to zoning of NBA National offices?

There is no ambiguity in the relationship between the Egbe-Amofin and the Midwest Bar Forum as such. There are four unofficial fora in the Nigerian Bar Association. These are the North, East, West and the Midwest Bar fora. The North and the West Bar fora are also known as the Arewa lawyers forum and the Egbe-Amofin respectively. These fora correspond with the four regions of the Nigerian First Republic.

There have been silent complaints for marginalization of the Midwest in the Egbe Amofin arrangement. To what extent would you say this is true and how can that be corrected?

Point of  correction, the complaint whether silent or vocal was not against the Egbe-Amofin. It was more or less complaint to the NBA to redefine the position of the Mid-West Bar Forum in its rotational arrangement for the Presidency of the Association.

You will probably recall that after the 1992 Port-Harcourt election crisis of the NBA, the Association went comatose till 1998. In 1998, the national executive committee of the association was revived. The role played by great bar men such as Chief Thompson  Okpoko, SAN and Awomolo (the Chairman of Chairmen) in the battle fought to resuscitate the NBA in 1998 cannot be over stated.

It was after the aforesaid resuscitation that the elders of the NBA decided to evolve a rotation formula that will ensure that there will never be a re-occurence of the type of election crisis that rocked the Association to its very foundation in 1992, at Port-Harcourt.

Thus in 1998, Chief T. J.O. Okpoko, SAN of the Midwest Bar Forum became the first person to occupy the Presidency of the NBA. Chief O.C.J Okocha, SAN from the Eastern Bar Forum took over from Okpoko, SAN. Chief Wole Olanikpekun, SAN from the Western Bar Forum took over from Okocha,SAN, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN from the Nothern Bar Forum took over from Olanikpekun,SAN. Lanke Odoginyo,  completed Chief Ojo’s tenure following the latter’s appointment as the Attorney-General of the Federation.

Lanke Odoginyo, handed over the presidency of the NBA to Chief Oliseh Agbakoba, SAN from the Eastern Bar Forum. He handed over to Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN from the Western Bar Forum. Akeredolu handed over to Chief Joseph Daudu, SAN from the Northern Bar Forum, who handed over to the current national president, Chief Okey Wali, SAN from the Eastern Bar Forum.

From the history of the Presidency of the NBA which I have just given to you, it can be seen that after the Okpoko, SAN presidency, the Eastern, Northern, and Western Bar Fora of the NBA have occupied the position of national President of the body twice each, to the exclusion of the Midwest Bar forum. This was the genesis of what you referred to, in your question as silent complaints of marginalization by the Midwest Bar Forum.

These complaints were looked into by committee of elders of the bar set up by the national body.

It was that committee that ruled that the Midwest Bar Forum and the Western Bar Forum should be at liberty to contest the Presidency of the bar together.

We have since visited the Western Bar Forum to formally intimate it of the position of the NBA on this issue and to seek their opinion on it. To underscore the importance we attached to the issue, the delegation of the Midwest Bar Forum to the Western Bar Forum (also known as Egbe-Amofin), was led by no less a person than my predecessor in office, Chief Albert Akpomudje, SAN.

We were very warmly and well received by the leaders and prominent members of the Egbe-Amofin such as Chief Aiku, SAN, Chief Olanikpekun, SAN, Funde Adekoya, SAN, Deacon Dele Adekoya, SAN amongst others. Our discussion with them was cordial and they told us that they do not have any objection to the decision that we should be at liberty to contest the election into the office of the President of the NBA with the Western Bar Forum.

There have also been complaints that regional fora exist mainly for lobbyists for NBA national offices. Do you agree with this assertion?

I do not share the view that Regional fora exist mainly as lobbyists for NBA national offices. Rather,  I am of the opinion that the regional fora exist to protect the interests of their members in all circumstances. Let me quickly add that the rotational arrangement of the Presidency amongst the different fora had brought peace into the electoral process. This is why they are recognized by the NBA albeit informally.

NBA national elections will hold next year. Will the Midwest likely have a candidate for any of the offices? Again, which of the offices will the forum likely sponsor a candidate for?

Part of our mission in the visit to Egbe-Amofin, was to intimate them that a member of the Mid-West Bar Forum will contest the election for the office of President of the NBA next year. We made a very strong case for their understanding on this very important issue.

Electoral contest

We made the point that Egbe-Amofin having taken the Presidency twice on the last two consecutive occasion when it was the collective turn of both the Midwest Bar Forum and Egbe-Amofin to take it, equity and fair play demand that the Midwest Bar Forum should be allowed to have it this time around.

Even though our discussion on this issue was inconclusive, we shall continue to appeal to them for their understanding; for it will be better for the two fora to agree on an ordered rotation than for a free for all electoral contest for Presidency when it gets to our collective turn.

Now to the second part of the question, I am very certain that a member of the Midwest Bar Forum will definitely contest election for the Presidency of the NBA next year. One of our members Austen Aleghe,SAN has already indicated his interest to contest for the Presidency of the NBA next year.

No other member of our forum has indicated his interest for that office for now. At the appropriate time, we shall look at the viability of the candidacy of all members of the forum that indicate interest in the Presidency and other offices and we shall advise them accordingly.

Outside of Egbe Amofin, how would you define the relationship of the Forum with other regional fora, like Eastern Bar Forum and Arewa Lawyers Forum?

Outside of Egbe-Amofin, our relationship with both the Northern Bar Forum (also known as Arewa Bar Forum) and the Eastern Bar forum is quite cordial. We have no option but to maintain a cordial relationship since we are resolute in our determination to produce the next president of the NBA.

What non-members of the NBA do not realize is that the NBA is so sophisticated that it is impossible for one fora to produce a president for the body without the  cooperation of the others. There is need to reach out to other fora and we shall continue to do so.

Currently, insecurity has been identified as one of the greatest challenges that is facing Nigeria as a nation. But Edo State must have its fair share of violent crimes, like kidnappings, armed robberies and hired assassins. As a senior lawyer,  how can the law be deployed to deal with this problem effectively?

The problem of insecurity is now a national problem and like most things in Nigeria, everybody has become an expert in it. I cannot pretend to be an expert on security matters, so, there is a limit to what I can advocate. Already, we have enough laws to deal with the problem of insecurity.

The fact that we still have security challenges in their present magnitude is indicative of the fact that security is not all about law alone. There are socio cultural, religious, political and other factors that have direct bearing on issues of security.

The tragedy of the Nigerian situation is that everybody has become an expert on security issue and therefore, must voice opinion on security issues. I want you to know that it is not wise to advise on issues in which you are not an expert. l must tell you that some of the careless and unguarded statements of people who know little or nothing about security issues, have worsened the  already bad situation in which we have found ourselves.

Suffice to say that we ought to adopt the American approach to security issues. In America, the people unite behind their government whenever the security of lives and property is threatened by any act of internal or external aggression. But in Nigeria, we bring politics to bear on every issue including security. What is the result of this? Things get worse everyday.

Judicial corruption

For some time,  the mantra in the legal profession has been judicial corruption. Give us a picture of what the situation is like in the Edo State Judiciary.

Can we get purity from an impure vessel? Of course not. If Nigeria has been consistent in maintaining its reputation as one of the most corrupt  countries in the world, how then can we have a corruption free judiciary? Yes there is corruption in the judiciary but like I said elsewhere recently, I do not subscribe to the view that the entire judiciary is corrupt.

If we continue to say that the whole judiciary is corrupt, we are being uncharritable to many men and women in our judiciary, who toil night and day to dispense justice without fear or favour, affection or ill will. Many of our Judges are doing their best. However few bad ones are polluting the system and need to be cut off like a cancerous growth in the body.

Do you share in the view by a group that calls itself the Movement on the Abolition of Senior Advocates, that the rank has outlived its usefulness?

The rank has not outlived its usefulness. A recruit in the army aspires to be a general one day, a nurse from day one, aspires to be a matron or a chief matron eventually, a ward counsellor today hopes to be a governor or a senator if not the President of Nigeria tomorrow.

Even you asking me these question have the ambition of rising to the position of Editor in Chief of your newspaper in future. So if all other professions and disciplines have their various pinnacles to which their members aspire to, why should the legal profession be different.

To those who argue that the rank should be scrapped because of what they consider as flaws in the appointment process, they can as well apply the same argument with other offices and positions in the profession and other disciplines. In other words, we can as well abolish the positions of Judges of the High Courts, Court of Appeal and even the Supreme Court because the procedure of appointment to these offices are also not perfect.

To abolish an office or rank including the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria because of the perceived flaws in the appointment process, can be likened to throwing the baby away with the bath water. We shouldn’t do that, rather, we should listen attentively to the argument of those who are opposed to the retention of the rank and reform the process, if need be, from time to time.

Where do you stand on the debate that the NBA national elections should be completely democratized by adopting universal suffrage which would allow every lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar to vote candidates of their choice at national elections?

There is a saying that those who fail to learn from history are condemned to relive its tragedies. I am sure that most lawyers who went through the agony of 1992 to 1998 when the NBA at the national level  died after the Port-Harcourt debacle, would rather stick to the delegates system of election which has worked very well since its resurrection.

You will recall that the root cause of the Port-Harcourt eruption was the apprehension in some quarters that the election was going to be hijacked by mercenary lawyers, who were alleged to have been hired by some of the contestants at that election.

That fear of mercenaries had been largely eliminated under the prevailing delegates system of election. If I may borrow a biblical expression, it will be easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for non lawyer to vote at NBA election under the current system. So, let stick with it.