NBA president halts Ikeja branch elections

By John Austin Unachukwu

President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olumide Akpata, has intervened in the crisis rocking the Ikeja branch of the association by postponing its election scheduled for last Wednesday.

Akpata promised to set up a new caretaker committee to man the affairs of the branch.

In a statement, NBA Publicity Secretary, Dr. Rapuluchukwu Nduka, said Akpata’s action followed a stakeholders’meeting.

He noted that the former NBA President Paul Usoro (SAN) had, on June 30, 2020, dissolved the Ikeja Branch Election Committee constituted on May 14, and appointed a Caretaker Committee to manage the branch’s affairs for three months and organise its elections.

The committee, comprising Olabisi Ade-Ademuwagun, Adebamigbe Omole, and Monday Ubani, fixed September 29, for the elections.

He said Akpata had to step in following “serious disputes and controversies” that trailed the work of the committee, “including disqualification of one of the candidates for the branch chairmanship position.”

This, the statement stated, has resulted in at least two separate lawsuits challenging the legality or otherwise of the branch election, as well as Ubani’s recent resignation from the Caretaker Committee.

It added: “To avoid further degeneration of the crisis into a national monster, the NBA President, Mr. Olumide Akpata, last week convened a stakeholders’ meeting where he and the General Secretary, Mrs. Joyce Oduah, met with the Caretaker Committee to resolve the impasse.

“Also in attendance at the meeting were past chairmen of the branch, Senior Advocates of Nigeria and members of the branch.

“The meeting agreed that in view of the pendency of the various actions pertaining to the Branch elections, postponing the elections was the best course of action in order not to render the decisions of the court nugatory and also to allow for the possibility of the amicable resolution of the cases.

“Consequently, the NBA president directed that the branch elections, which was scheduled for last weekend, be postponed to a later date.

“The president also stated that in line with Article 11 of the Uniform By-Laws for Branches contained in Third Schedule to the NBA Constitution 2015 (as amended), a new Caretaker Committee will be appointed before close of business on Wednesday 30 September, 2020, when the tenure of the current committee will elapse, to manage the affairs of the Branch in the interim and organise the Branch elections.”