On this edition of Law Weekly, we looked closely at the forthcoming elections of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and also spoke to the electoral committee chairman, Mr Okey Amaechi, SAN.
We also featured the reactions and comments of two past presidents of the bar, Chief OCJ Okocha and Chief Wole Olanipekun.
The NBA elections have been fixed for the 14 and 15 of July 2014. But one issue that always generates reactions is the issue of electoral delegates and the guidelines for the process.
Fourteen offices are up for grabs but the big one is usually that of the position of the NBA President. It becomes even more interesting this year because four Senior Advocates of Nigeria are contesting that position.
To understand the rules by which the positions will be filled, Law Weekly spoke with Mr Amaechi, whose law practice operates largely out of Abia State.
The electoral chairman also answered questions as to the composition of the delegates register and how it was compiled.
In the interview, he explained that the guidelines mandate his committee to determine that delegates are properly chosen hence the requirement for receipts of branch dues
However, there are groups of lawyers who have issues with the electoral guidelines: one of such is the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos branch.
Following a lengthy debate arising from a motion by octogenarian, Pa Tunji Gomez, members of the branch unanimously rejected stipulations in the election guidelines requiring branches to submit bank tellers “as evidence of payment of annual practicing fee as at 1 April, 2014.”
In a resolution signed by the branch chairman, Alex Muoka, and the publicity secretary, Abdulrasheed Ibrahim, the branch said such requirement was unnecessary “as full and detailed information of all lawyers and all branch members who have paid practising fees as at 31 March, 2014 is already in the custody of the NBA national secretariat”.
The members are more piqued by the requirement in the election guidelines which mandates every NBA registered branch to submit receipts as evidence of payment of branch dues and levies as at 1 April, 2014.
They said that the requirement, which was “unconstitutional” as it is not contained in NBA constitution 2009, was a ploy to “disenfranchise branches and voters”.
The “premier bar” also took a swipe at the emergence of some new branches during the election period, warning that “no branch inaugurated in 2014 shall be allowed to send delegates to vote at the 2014 NBA elections”.
Worried that the opaque nature of the guidelines concerning the publication of the delegates’ register touches on the integrity of the electoral process and would jeopardise credible elections, the members resolved that not only should evidence of payment of practicing fee be published and made available to branches and the electoral committee, “the entire list of qualified voters (should) be published by the electoral committee no later than one week before the date of the election”.
The members also insisted that “independent auditors be engaged to conduct the elections”.
In an interview with channels TV’s Emmanuel Ereyi in Port Harcourt Rivers State, former president, OCJ Okocha, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, believed that the guidelines are in order.
