The Ilorin branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) is engulfed in a crisis that is threatening its foundation. Rather than engaging in dispute resolution and arbitration, lawyers are at one anothers’ throats, following an attempt by the leadership to probe the immediate past executive. Besides, a group of lawyers plan to impeach the chairman of the branch, Mobolaji Ojibara.
The lawyers, who are said to be loyal to the former chairman, were said to have served Ojibara a two weeks impeachment notice. The notice of impeachment is said to be sponsored by 16 members of the association and seconded by 18 others. They are accusing him of professional misconduct contrary to Article 14(a) of the NBA bye-law 2013, Section 9(a) (iv) of the NBA Constitution 2009, Article 22 NBA bye-law 2013 and NBA Guidelines and Timetable for 2014 NBA and abuse of office contrary to Section 14(c) of NBA Ilorin bye-law, 2013.
They accused him of issuing a dud cheque of N300, 000 to Dr. J.O. Olatoke (SAN) and also replacing the name of Balogun with that of Salman Jawondo as a delegate to the just-concluded NBA national elections. They are also accusing him of using funds meant for the association to buy bags of rice for his friends and also sponsored the funeral ceremony of the association’s Vice-Chairman without due clearance from the association.
According to those who want him out of office, Ojibara allegedly redeemed the sum of N3 million from pledges made at a recent NBA function without disclosing same to the executive council or congress of the association.
Investigations revealed that the alleged disqualification of Balogun who sought to contest election as National Legal Adviser of the Association at the just-concluded NBA election may have been responsible for the anger against Ojibata by some of the members.
Ojibara told our correspondent that those seeking his removal as the NBA chairman will not succeed; even as he allegedly blamed the development on the immediate past leadership of the branch headed by Balogun whom he claimed had allegedly refused to submit to the rule of accountability.
While claiming not to have received any notice form impeachment as at the time of this report, his associates said only two third of financial members of the association can actually remove the chairman, stressing that those behind the move really do not have evidence to prove their allegations.
Ojibara said: “The problem is that they have refused to be accountable to the association. When they left office, we decided to look into the account and that is the normal practice, but they refused.
“For instance, they claimed to have spent N6.5 million on the Bar Centre and still left a debt of N7.7 million. When they presented that report, members said the account should be audited and we set up an audit committee to do that but they went to court to stop the auditing.
“In December, while that was going on, we had our dinner but they hijacked the programme and presented themselves with awards. If we had screened the accounts by then, we wouldn’t have presented them with awards. We also later decided to look into how they hijacked the programme and set up a committee to do that.
Again, they went to court to stop the process. It was at that point that Balogun sought to contest for a post in the National Executive Council of the association. They then began to make various comments on the social media which attracted the attention of the National President.
They claimed there was a state of emergency in the Ilorin chapter, that the executive have been banned and other allegation. I had to talk with the President and I put down my position formally and they found substance in what I said and that was why they disqualified Balogun from contesting.”
Continuing, he said: “The moment they returned to Ilorin, they launched this impeachment drive as an attack on my administration. Check the document and you will see that virtually all the lawyers that signed are from one chamber or the other where members of the past executives are working.
Their campaign is that once Balogun was disallowed form contesting, then this executive must also go. But we are merely insisting on sanity in the branch because we believe that people should be accountable. They just want to negotiate knowing that they cannot get anything from the court process. They have done so much havoc to the association.
“I urge you to go and see the Bar Centre and the level of work done. I am not begging anybody not to go ahead with the plan to remove me if they think they have what it takes to do so.”
One of the lawyers, Rafiu Balogun dissociated himself from Ojibara’s ordeal saying “I am surprised that a leader of the bar could go on this way when he knows the truth. I don’t know why some of them are being economical with the truth. The audit committee that was set up was manipulated by the chairman and one or two of his cohorts who are hell bent on destroying our credibility.
“In the history of the bar in Ilorin here, there is no administration that can match ours. The records of our achievement are there. I am surprised that he is saying I am the one supporting the move.
“At our general meeting of April 18, the one we had at the Chief Judge’s Court, the secretary, Mr. Akande sat with the congress. He rose up and said the chairman is guilty of financial recklessness, abuse of office and unguarded statement. That is coming from his secretary and that is part of the grounds of impeachment.
“Is that Balogun again? He should just leave me alone. This is what happened: after our tenure when we submitted our annual reports and accounts, we set out everything clearly. There was no issue at all. It was at the point of the report being adopted at the swearing-in of the new executive that Mr. Salman Jawondo, his godfather, raised up his hands that we must not adopt this report that day because the time was far spent.
“The tradition is that we must adopt it but because we didn’t know they had their own plans, I said no problem; that we could adopt it at the next general meeting which is the inaugural meeting of the Ojibara administration. But the day we were supposed to do that, Jawondo again raised an issue that the report had not been audited and therefore should not be adopted.
“I was surprised. Meanwhile Ojibara began to read out a list of names of a committee on that. One of the elders objected to it because that was not the practice. How can you appoint committee for us to audit the report? There and then Jawondo raised his hands up again and nominated Dr. Adams whose name had earlier been read out by Ojibara, to head the committee.
“Thereafter, they began to jubilate that they were going to deal with me. The secretary to that committee is in the same office with Dr. Adams. They wrote to me asking for records of the administration. I asked them to contact the secretary because as chairman, I don’t keep records. Let them write to all secretaries and financial secretary.
“They wrote and those people responded. But the committee didn’t work at all. The chairman alone was looking at our record and was filing report because he was detailed to indict me because of my ambition. As a result of the practice in those days, the chairman must recommend you to say that you are in good standing, otherwise you will not be allowed to contest.”
Balogun also said: “The plan was that they would use the report against me; they were going to use two reports; the audit and the one on the plaque we were given at the end of our tenure which is a normal thing. They made it become an issue and set up another committee to probe me.
“The audit committee was not working but they were preparing report. We have somebody there who felt it was all unfair and spoke out against what they were doing. We wrote them to hands off because we have seen that in law, they don’t even have what it takes to audit and account; it is the job of professional accountants.
“We also said we have seen that they are not going to be fair to us because I had issues with the chairman of the committee, Dr. Adams. This is so because I didn’t allow him to contest when I was secretary because he was not qualified. But they hid our letter whereas they ought to refer the letter to the congress; that we are complaining.
“We are lawyers and I am surprised that they could keep that letter without referring it to the congress. We had no option again but to go to court. But before doing that, we went to our elders; we wrote to them to let them know what was brewing and asked for their intervention, that we have served so well and therefore do not deserve to be humiliated.
“It was my administration that constituted the Council of Elders and we put it in the bye-law. We wrote to them and we even talked with some of them. But nothing was done. So, we had to go to court. You should ask us what our prayer in court is. “We are saying that we are not going to get fair hearing from the committee and that the court should mandate the association to constitute an independent auditor from outside who will do the auditing.
“So we are not saying our accounts should not be audited even though reports of the two past administrations of Jawondo and Akanbi were not audited. We are on trust; we are lawyers and if lawyers speak from the bar, there is no need to doubt them. We are not used to this kind of thing; we operate on trust.”
He added that what was happening to him is pure “vendetta. I contested with Ojibara on two occasions and as God would have it, I defeated him both as secretary and chairman and he said I didn’t support him during time he won, adding that I was supporting my Vice-Chairman, Dr. Abikan.
That was my offence because the elders had intervened on the matter earlier and they blamed him for taking such action.
“I say it is vendetta or envy because they are marveled at what we have achieved so far. When I started, they said I was too young to do it but when we started to achieve so much, they were marveled. They accuse me of planning to turn myself into Saraki of NBA. But I tell them it is because I am popular and people like my style.”
