Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, could not have been wrong when he said that the Nigerian Bar Association was hypocritical in its opposition to the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State. He attributed this to the loss of the monetary support the NBA was to get as sponsorship of its 2025 annual conference.

Earlier billed to hold in Rivers, the conference has been moved to Enugu in the wake of the suspension of Siminalayi Fubara, the governor and the state legislators, following the declaration of emergency rule. The NBA claims that the President acted in violation of the Constitution in a move that has ignited debates in which there are bound to be no winners except the Supreme Court decides.

And if we are to go by the way Nigerians now interpret court decisions to suit their prejudice, it is safe to assume that a decision by the Supreme Court would not resolve the issue. That is the extent to which politics has destroyed our social fabric. 

As far as Nyesom Wike is concerned, though, the NBA has been compromised by its expectation of financial support from the Rivers State government. Wike, as a lawyer and prominent benefactor of the NBA and, also, of the legal constituency within Rivers and across Nigeria, should know a thing or two about such matters. The NBA is, indeed, complicit in the impasse that has brought Rivers State to its knee. This is not a matter of mere perception. It is the reality in which the association has found itself at this moment as a supposedly independent group and watch dog that nevertheless depends on the patronage of private and public organisations, individuals and governments at the different levels of governance, for its sustenance. 

Like political parties, it has enjoyed this privilege that borders on abuse for many years and it appears it has been caught this time around with its hand in the jar. Every day for the thief, one day for the owner is what our people say. The owners of what the NBA has been shoving down its throat in silence (“chop and clean mouth”) are finally coming for it. In the light of what has emerged, the NBA is not an impartial arbiter. It has a dog in the fight in Rivers State. What has gone on in that state is a fight among erstwhile comrades, groups and individuals, for control and lucre. The fight was encouraged and sustained by interested parties ranged behind or against the combatants. Call them by whatever name- elders, activists, traditional leaders, former governors, legislators and professional organisations, they were and are all the same. 

They’ve been fighting either individually or as a group for their pockets but those blinkered by politics, their hatred of the present wielders of power  and the determination to be on the popular side of contemporary debate, insist that the problem is entirely that of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and their grab for power ahead of the 2027 elections. It is getting windy and we are beginning to see the rump of the chicken. Things are clearer as the political atmosphere in River State gets less cloudy.

According to Wike: “The NBA is against the state of emergency because there would be no money to give them for their conference”. Apparently, Wike did not have all the fact because as at the time he spoke, the NBA was already the beneficiary of a N300 million largesse from the Rivers State government under the leadership of Mr. Siminalayi Fubara. The Sole Administrator, Rear Admiral, Ibok-Ete Ibas, is demanding the refund of the money he said the State paid as the “hosting right” of the NBA conference. Hehehehe, wahala! 

I hope our lawyers have their laxatives nearby? They should be prepared to cough up what they’ve swallowed or bear the tag of corruption. Going by claims in his speech at an NBA Conference a few years ago, Rivers State hosted the NBA conference twice, 2017 and 2021, under Nyesom Wike as governor. The botched 2025 conference would have been the third in River State in seven years. Is Rivers the only state in Nigeria? Why is nobody discussing equity or federal character here? It is safe to assume that the NBA conference is now like the football Mundial for which cities bid for the right to host the world. Except that the NBA conference is a members-only fest. Only learned friends, erudite “wigs” and “silks”, “amicus curiae” and what-not, have the “locus standi” to attend. Like the football world cup, it would seem that the NBA annual conference hosting right goes to the highest bidder.

It’s now time for “bold face”. The NBA has admitted to receiving a princely N300 million for not lifting a single finger on behalf of Rivers State. What brief did it take from Rivers State? It called what it received an unconditional  gift, saying it neither offers nor sells the right to host its conference to any state. The NBA may be an association of lawyers versed in the art of smooth argument. But it cannot be the judge in its own case. As things stand, it is a party in a potential legal issue. If in all its learned antics it cannot see the conflict in its position, others do.

What it should be saying before its position can begin to make sense is to return the so-called gift to Rivers State now it is being demanded. To assume the dismissive stance it has taken, is to be irresponsible and corrupt. How often do Nigerians, including some of our leading lawyers, rail against corruption in high places? How have they characterised the crisis in Rivers, if not as the product of corruption? Here we are with one of the country’s leading professional organisations, one made up of private citizens, boldly asserting its right to public funds not appropriated for by a state but freely given by the governor. 

Can we all see now how difficult it is to govern Nigeria or to be in the public place or deal with public officers and not be corrupted? You only have to stay long enough before you are co-opted, sometimes against your will and without your knowledge.  Nobody holy pass! This is why we should cut one another some slack, especially when we are operating in our individual capacity.

Wike has been a major benefactor of his legal constituency, wrong or right. He has built hostels and lecture rooms for law students, offices and houses for judges and bought cars for them. All of this before he was appointed FCT Minister; he was governor, and nobody complained. But today, “all eyes” are on him and federal judges.