By Innocent Anaba

The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, will next month, in Ibadan, Oyo State, elect its national officers, to run the
affairs of the association for the next two years.  Unlike in 2008, when the President of the association emerged without a formal contest, two prominent Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama and Mr Joseph Daudu, are slugging it out  for the position, which had been zoned to the North.

Even though some lawyers are questioning the propriety of holding the election at a different venue from the annual general conference, in view of the fact that the general conference had some years back, resolved that all election conferences shall hold in Abuja, because of obvious logistic challenges,  members are all the same excited that the election is near again, as branches will have the privilege of playing host to the contestants, who will go round the branches on campaign.

But of major concern to members is the fact that the highest position, the President, may after all not be contested, if attempts by some bar elders and leaders to ensure a consensus candidate emerged, sails through. In this regard, the war is between the Elders Committee of the group and its Committee of Branch Chairmen and Secretaries, CBCS. While the Elders Committee want a consensus candidate, the Committee of Branch Chairmen and Secretaries want the delegates to decides two becomes the President of the NBA.

*Gadzama, SAN and Daudu, SAN

According to some lawyers, who spoke to Vanguard Law and Human Rights on the issue, they would prefer the two candidates to face the electorate.

But the final say, may well rest with the Arewa Lawyers Forum, ALF, because just as the Western Bar Forum played a role in the emergence of the incumbent President of the NBA, Chief Olarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, though a consensus candidate, as the other candidate, Elder Dele Adesina, SAN, was told to withdraw in 2008,  the Eastern Bar Forum in 2006, played a similar role in the Port Harcourt annual conference of the association, as it endorsed both Mr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN and Chief Chris Uche, SAN, as candidates for the zone, when the position was zoned to the East.

Many lawyers are of the view that the position of the Easter Bar Forum should be adopted by the Arewa Lawyers Forum, so that no candidate feels cheated.

Even the crisis within the ranks of the ALF makes it imperative for it to adopt a middle course and allow both candidates, who are eminently qualified to run, after all, tail or head, it is still the North that will win at the end of the contest.

But developments within the ALF is not leaving much to be desired. For instance, while the Elders Committee want a consensus candidate, the much more representative arm of the Forum, the Committee of Branch Chairmen and Secretaries, want both candidates to run and the Elders Committee are accused of being desperate to foist a consensus candidate, even against the wishes of majority of members.

CBCS of ALF, had meet and agreed to allow both Gadzama and Daudu run, but another section of the Forum, after a meeting in Kaduna, issued a communique, saying “the Arewa Lawyers Forum in appreciation of the informed, dispassionate, and perceptive intervention of its Elders Committee in adopting one of its two Presidential aspirants in the 2010 NBA Elections, do hereby resolve and ratify the choice of J.B. Daudu SAN as the sole candidate of the North for the office of President of the NBA in the 2010 Delegates Election.”

Committee of Branch Chairmen and Secretaries of ALF, has meanwhile described the said resolution  as illegal, adding that the elders did not have the mandate of the group to adopt any candidate for the association.

CBCS in its resolution, even before the said latest adoption of Daudu, SAN, by a section of the Forum, had said “we wish to suggest that since we do not as at today have any laid down commonly accepted and acceptable principles or rules and regulations which will guide us in reaching a decision as to who to support as between he two candidates, let the forum bless both candidates and allow them to run because whoever of them that wins remains one of us. Moreso, that there is no third candidate from any other fora or zones.

“We also wish to state that we delayed too much and waited for too long, such that both candidates have embarked on very elaborate campaigns such that at the present moment when we have very few weeks left before the election, it is practically impossible to expect any of them to accept any decision in favour of any of the candidates in good faith at this critical hour.

“We feel compelled to and wish to state that the only way out of the present impasse which will not divide the forum is to allow both candidates the democratic option of facing the electorate because the process has already been mismanaged. While we do not agree with the decision of the selected elders taken in Abuja on 22/5/2010, they also view the decision of some Chairmen and Secretaries of Arewa take on May 29, 2010 as an affront on their eldership, the middle course, therefore, is not to show any preference for either of them and allow the two candidates to run.

“We believe that the process of attempting to adopt one of the two candidates to sponsor in this year’s election was badly managed and indeed bungled irredeemable, any attempt at salvaging the situation at this stage will not only fail, but will generate a lot of bad blood among us because both camps have dug deeper and deeper into their trenches.

“We wish to state categorically and without any fear of contradiction that we hereby disassociate ourselves from any attempt to adopt any of the candidates as a candidate of the forum. We shall not accept it, we reject it and we shall not be bound neither will we subject ourselves to it,” it added.

Also reacting to the said adoption, an Elder of ALF, and former Bauchi State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, has refuted claims that the  Elders Committee of Forum had adopted a sole candidate in the person of Daudu, SAN, for the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, presidency.

He said, “my attention has been drawn to the reports in the media and in the said publications,  it was stated that the ‘entire membership’ of the forum had resolved to adopt Daudu, SAN as the sole candidate from the North, bearing in mind the fact that the post of President of the Nigerian Bar Association had been zoned to the region. As someone who was present at the meeting and who took part in the deliberations, I read the said publications and wish to state that I experienced utter shock and dismay to put it mildly. Not only were facts distorted outrightly, the publication in the Newspapers was also a fraudulent act.

“At the said meeting, the opinion of the majority of those present was that both   Gadzama, SAN and  Daudu, SAN should contest on a level playing ground and let the better candidate win. Those who were of the opinion that a sole candidate should be adopted, constituted not more 10% of the number of those present. Having observed that the tide had turned against their fraudulent plan to impose a candidate, the Chairperson of the steering committee of the forum, Hajiya Kwaku, a known sympathizer of Daudu, vehemently refused to accept the position of the majority, insisting that a sole candidate must be endorsed without voting. At that stage, majority of those present walked out, leaving about 15 people including Hajiya Kwaku, John Ochoga and Okutepa.

“It was with utter shock and dismay, therefore, that we saw in the Newspapers, a publication stating that she had  issued a communique which stated that Daudu, SAN had been endorsed as a sole candidate by the forum. This was a total departure from what the majority of those present at the forum agreed to.

“To further buttress our point that the facts have been distorted, a list of the names of all Chairmen and Secretaries of the 32 branches of the NBA constituting the Arewa Lawyers’ Forum, including their phone numbers will be published in the National Dailies so that concerned members of the Bar can verify the authenticity or otherwise of the conflicting facts.

The rough house tactics adopted by Hajiya Kwaku, were so sickening that  Steve Abar, the Secretary of the forum refused to sign the communique. Is it not ridiculous that a communique issued by a body as large as the Arewa Lawyers Forum was not signed by its secretary? A glance at any of the said publications in the Newspapers will reveal that there was no where the name of the Secretary was mentioned. Instead it was stated in the publications that Hajiya Kwaku, Ochoga and Okutepa signed the communique.  What are the functions of a Vice-Chairperson? Is it not a well known fact that a Vice-Chairperson only performs certain functions (especially signing of documents) when the Chairperson is not available? Why would the Vice-Chairperson sign the communique when the Chairperson was there? Did he not sign in lieu of Steve Abar, the Secretary who blatantly refused to be a part of their fraudulent plan?  Why are Hajiya Kwaku and her supporters afraid of an election? Why are they so eager to adopt Daudu, SAN as the sole candidate? These are questions that demand urgent answers.

The NBA has been in existence for 50 years. It will outlive both Gadzama and  Daudu. As lawyers, we are expected to observe a certain degree of decorum and etiquette. What transpired in the said meeting smacked of arm twisting and garrison style bullying. It is not the sort of behaviour expected of lawyers. We must be careful not to turn the NBA into the very monster it has been trying to destroy.

What transpired at the meeting was one of the most bogus and outrageous acts ever witnessed, at least within the realm of the legal profession. It is important that the likes of Hajiya Kwaku be called to order before the NBA becomes a political party.

“In the interest of justice and fair play and due to my in-born habit of always telling the truth, I hereby refute the entire contents of the communique issued by Hajiya Kwaku, Ochoga, the Vice Chairperson and Okutepa and published in the media.  Nothing of the sort happened and the truth will soon be revealed when the names and numbers of all branch Chairmen and their  secretaries are published in the dailies,” he added.