The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has resolved to sanction all its members involved in the promotion of a parallel association, Law Society of Nigeria.
The body particularly resolved that a Past NBA General Secretary, Mr. Nimi Walson-Jack who acted as a solicitor to the promoters of the new law society be stripped of his privileges as past General Secretary and consequently, be suspended from being a member of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Association.
The NBA made this known in its communique signed by the President of the Bar, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Yakubu Maikyau and released to the press today. The communique represents the decisions taken at its quarterly NEC meeting which held recently in Abuja on Dec. the 15th.
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The NBA NEC said it received with dismay the report of the attempt to register a parallel body of lawyers as an alternative to the Nigerian Bar Association and frowns at the involvement of some senior members of the Bar and past leaders of the Association in the registration process of the alternative body.
The meeting firmly resolved, that the NBA is the only recognized, indivisible umbrella Association of all lawyers called to the Bar in Nigeria and there is no other body so recognised or permitted to operate as such. It also resolved that the Law Society of Nigeria (LSN), is unknown to members of the Bar and mandates the NBA President to commence processes for the delisting of the LSN by the Corporate Affairs Commission.
On the Letter By The NBA President To The Chairman of the Body of Benchers, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Wole Olanipekun, to recuse himself, the NEC declared that the issue which gave rise to the call for recusal is not a personal issue of the NBA President, but an issue that affects the entire legal profession and casts it in bad light.
NEC therefore ratified all the steps taken by the NBA President in relation to the matter and passed a vote of confidence on him while declaring that all the steps he had taken so far on the issue, are for the benefit of the Bar and the legal profession
The NEC also frowned at the sit-tight attitude of Chief Wole Olanipekun, CFR, SAN despite letters from 2 NBA Presidents and called on him to, as a matter of principle, honour the request in the letters of the NBA and recuse himself as the Chairman of the Body of Benchers.
Recognizing the need to explore all avenues to save the legal profession from further embarrassment over the imbroglio, NEC empowered the NBA President to set up a committee to seek alternate ways to resolve the matter.
The NEC meeting also ratified the nomination of the immediate past NBA President, Mr. Olumide Akpata as a returnee-member of the Body of Benchers alongside two others.
The association has also ratified the decision to hold its next Annual General Conference in Abuja from 25 August to 1 September, 2023.
On the state of the nation, the NBA NEC expressed concern over issues of terrorism, kidnappings, human and child trafficking, bad roads etc. bedevilling the nation. NEC posits that, as the leading body and voice of the profession, it would continue to be at the fore front of urging government to tackle these issues and proffering proper solutions to them.
