BY GODWIN EFFIONG

Selective Neutrality and the Capture of NBA Leadership

Hirelings of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, tried to defend his narrative of the “right to choose” who succeeds him and his supposed promise of neutrality during the last NEC meeting in Maiduguri, yet his actions tell a very different story. Far from being impartial, Mazi Afam Osigwe has repeatedly conferred measurable advantages on Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo Okunsanya, SAN, undermining the very claims of fairness his apologists seek to promote.

During the last Annual General Conference, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo Okunsanya, SAN, was granted institutional platforms, prime visibility during the Unbarred Concert, and even saw ongoing performances halted to accommodate her fireworks display. These were not routine campaign activities, they were privileges enabled by NBA leadership itself. At the NEC meeting in Maiduguri, her branded bottled water was adopted as the official water of the event, crossing from private campaign visibility into institutional endorsement.

Claims of presidential neutrality further collapse when outcomes across NBA structures are considered. Leadership across SPIDEL and other NBA fora has consistently reflected clear preferences rather than studied impartiality. At the last SPIDEL Conference in Uyo, despite promises of a level playing field, highly qualified candidates were disqualified, the duly constituted electoral committee disbanded, and the process skewed toward candidates widely perceived as Mazi Afam Osigwe’s anointed choices. Predictably, the President’s “one vote” translated into overwhelming victories for his preferred candidates.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo Okunsanya, SAN, and her supporters attempt to dictate narratives of fairness only when convenient. They tried to convert the EBF Quarterly Meeting into an endorsement under the guise of celebrating her birthday, which was marked earlier on 15 January 2026. That attempt was firmly resisted on 24 January in Umuahia during the meeting of the Eastern regional body. Yet, having failed to secure endorsement, they now condemn Egbe Amofin for an open, transparent process, a textbook case of “do as I say, not as I do.”

Paradoxically, they show no discomfort in celebrating and flaunting the endorsement of a cabal that has historically captured the leadership and weaponised its institutions, a group that has held the NBA in bondage, sown discord, entrenched factionalism, and undermined institutional trust. This same cabal routinely deploys institutional machinery to enthrone its preferred candidates while casting stains on the credibility of NBA elections.

It is equally disingenuous to cast Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo Okunsanya, SAN, as a victim when her record raises serious concerns. She presided over the widely criticised Lagos AGC 2024, where conference fees were inflated beyond the reach of the average Nigerian lawyer, and planning was so poor that the incumbent NBA President reportedly had to fund his own inauguration. Leadership demands accountability, not deflection.

At this point, the issue is no longer personalities but principle. Leadership that tolerates selective neutrality, institutional bias, and the capture of its processes cannot credibly preach fairness or demand unity. Endorsements obtained through transparency are not the problem, it is the quiet manipulation of institutions, the flaunting of cabal power, and the refusal to accept unfavourable outcomes that are corroding the NBA from within.

If the Bar is to reclaim its moral authority, it must reject hypocrisy in all its forms, dismantle structures of capture, and insist, without exception, on accountability, fairness, and institutional integrity.

• Godwin Effiong is a past Vice Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association, Oron Branch

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