• ACCUSES ALEGEH, OSIGWE OF PLOT TO ‘IMPOSE SURROGATE’
• ‘EGBE WILL NOT SURRENDER TO ANY PRINCIPALITY’

Egbe Amofin O’odua has strongly berated Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Mr. Afam Osigwe SAN for allegedly disparaging the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN.

In a 19-page rejoinder signed by its Chairman, Mr. Isiaka Abiola Olagunju, SAN and Secretary, Prince Adetunji Oso, SAN, the influential umbrella body for Yoruba lawyers decried what it termed “unwarranted uproar from certain quarters” following the issuance of Directions to NBA by the Attorney-General.

It also took a swipe at both the Eastern Bar Forum (EBF) and the Midwest Bar Forum, decrying their rejection of Fagbemi’s Directions.

The rejoinder was in apparent response to the press statements issued by the NBA and the regional forums rejecting the Directions issued by the Attorney-General.

It wrote: “The attention of Egbe Amofin O’odua (Egbe Amofin) has been drawn to some unwarranted uproar from certain quarters following the release of the Directions of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation (HAGF), pursuant to the submission to him of the Report of the 3-Man Committee (the Report) constituted on 11^th June, 2026 The Committee was constituted following the resolution reached at the meeting which the HAGF held with all Past Presidents of the NBA since 1998 and leading counsel to the respective parties in Suit Nos. I/205/2026; I/221/2026 and Appeal No. CA/B/110/2026.”

Continuing, it stated: “Unfortunately, among those who have been making denigrating and disparaging commentaries about the person and office of the HAGF, as well as some respected leaders of the Bar from the South-West are Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN; the Eastern Bar Forum (EBF); and the Mid-Western Bar Forum (MBF). Most unfortunately still, these vituperators, purveyors of commentaries, or opinion peddlers have chosen not to address, positively, realistically, and objectively any of the Directions of the HAGF. Rather, they have chosen to engage in unrestrained grandstanding and needless vituperation, in the course of which, Mr. Mazi Osigwe, SAN, in particular has exposed himself as deeply entrenched in perpetrating illegalities, by way of electoral fraud in the NBA elections. While the NBA, particularly under Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, perceived himself as the purifier of the polity, hypocritically, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, is the exact opposite of what he purports to crusade.”

Justifying Fagbemi’s intervention, Egbe wrote: “Before going further, Egbe Amofin considers it critical to draw the attention of the NBA, stakeholders and the Nigerian public, to the fact that NBA elections in recent years have been characterised by numerous electoral malpractices, a significant number of which constitute blatant violations of, and infringements upon, the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

It added that “The Egbe Amofin has referenced the 2018 developments in order to bring to the fore the fact that the Directions issued by the HAGF, who is also the Chief Law Officer of the Nation and doubles as the official leader of the Bar, are intended to address all these fraudulent and criminal practices that have become synonymous with NBA elections and have brought the legal profession, of which the HAGF is the official head, into disrepute. It is no worthy to state that subsequent elections including the one that brought the present president to office was similarly controversial.”

It accused Osigwe of undue haste and unwarranted attack on the “Peace Committee” Chairman, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, saying: “Before sitting down to properly digest the Directions of the HAGF, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, condemned the Directions wholesale in a statement he issued on July 7, 2026, and went further to accuse the Chairman of the Committee, Chief Wole Olanipekun, CFR, SAN, of bias. He further twisted what transpired at the meeting which the HAGF had with the past Presidents on June 11, 2026. Coincidentally, counsel representing the parties, including the Egbe, were at that meeting, and the report the Egbe received from them is different from his own version. By the way, it was the lead counsel to the NBA, Mr. Babatunde Kwame Ogala, SAN, who first mentioned Chief Wole Olanipekun, CFR, SAN, to chair a Committee to be set up by the meeting.”

The regional lawyers’ body accused Osigwe of undermining Fagbemi’s role as “Leader of the Bar,” saying: “The Egbe is constrained to comment on the curious assertion reportedly made by Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, during his appearance on Channels Television on 8th July, 2026, to the effect that the leadership of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation over the Bar is merely ceremonial. Assuming, without conceding, that such a statement was indeed made, the Egbe is inclined to believe that it may have been nothing more than an inadvertent slip of the tongue. If, however, it was a deliberate articulation of his position, then it would amount to a most unfortunate and misleading proposition coming from a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who presently doubles as the President of the Nigerian Bar Association.”

It added that “The Egbe expects the NBA President and his cohorts to extend much courtesy and respect to the office and person of the HAGF, who is also a very senior member of the Bar, having attained the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 1996, a rank which Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, attained just six years ago. In the legal profession, respect for seniors is one of our greatest ethos, pathos, precepts, values, traditions, and customs. Furthermore, it is outlandish for Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, to pronounce that he would not obey any of the Directions while the Mid-Western Bar Forum and Eastern Bar Forum are rendering the same refrain.”

In a scarcely veiled reference to former NBA President, Mr. Augustine Alegeh SAN, the Egbe decried his alleged role to “fix and impose” leaders on the association, saying: “The Egbe also wishes to make it loud and clear that it is not against the person of the female candidate being sponsored by the ‘Ruling House of Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN’, a ruling house which is under the surrogacy of a well-known past President of the NBA, who has vowed that, “come rain or shine, he will continue to fix and impose leadership on the Association, even if his choice, according to his boasting, is a cripple or invalid”. As far back as early last year (2025), the head of the ruling house to which Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, belongs openly announced whom he would coronate as NBA President in 2028 when the zoning arrangement rotates to the North. He made this declaration at the birthday celebration of a lawyer from the North, an event which he chaired. Furthermore, when a young lawyer from Akure placed a telephone call to the NBA President some time ago and sought to make him realise the futility of the war he was waging against the Egbe, the President’s uncompromising response was that he had a godfather who directs him on what to do, and that if the Egbe wants to court his friendship, its leaders must first have to appease his mentor, the known godfather who made him President.”

In a veiled reference to the candidacy of Mrs. Oyinkan Badejo-Okusanya SAN who is reportedly backed by the NBA leadership in defiance to Egbe’s consensus candidate, the body implicitly labeled her as a “surrogate,” warning: “Be that as it may, the Egbe and the Zone it represents will not surrender its sovereignty, heritage, rich traditions, pride, dignity, integrity, values, and ideals to any principality. Borrowing the words of one of the presidential candidates who appeared before the Committee, ‘the Cabal that is holding the NBA hostage is unautrosic’. The Egbe will resist any surrogate being imposed on it from outside by this known Cabal, more particularly when they are bent on impugning the laws of the land in an attempt to do so, just as they have been doing before.”

Turning to sister regional blocs, the Egbe wrote: “As for the Mid-Western Bar Forum, Eastern Bar Forum, and other vilifiers of the HAGF, respected leaders of the profession from the South-West, who are unarguably senior citizens of Nigeria, as well as the Egbe itself, the Egbe wants to state that while it is not cowardly or timid to respond to them, it is, however, not in the Egbe’s character, tradition and custom to abuse learned colleagues or elders. It is also not in rhythm with the traditions, customs, and norms of the legal profession to do so.

“Contrariwise, the Mid-Western Bar Forum has shown and exhibited disrespect to both the Egbe and its leaders, and is always hasty to attack them at any moment, at the prompting of the same Bar leader, who keeps boasting that it was he who commanded two members of the Mid-Western Bar Forum to drop their individual ambitions of contesting the post of NBA President this year. One then wonders: if this ‘powerful’ individual could command two MBF members not to contest, and they obeyed his command, why is he still the one using and aiding Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, in support of a rebellion and sabotage against Egbe Amofin/South-West? Thus, the Egbe cautions and warns Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, and his entourage to desist from this disparaging voyage and enterprise, which do not edify the legal profession, particularly the position of President which Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN occupies.

“The Egbe further admonishes both the Mid-Western Bar Forum and the Eastern Bar Forum to direct and channel their emphasis to where the problems of the NBA lie, and to the dramatis personae who have put the Association in a stranglehold for years, rather than crucifying highly respected, tested, and venerated members and leaders of both the Bar and the Nation from the South-West/Egbe Amofin. The Egbe reiterates the fact that it will never poke its nose into the internal affairs of the Mid-Western Bar Forum, the Eastern Bar Forum or the Northern/Arewa Bar Forum, and neither will it sponsor any rebellion against any of the Fora, because it is not healthy for the entire Association, apart from the fact that it is unfair and a disservice.”

Justifying its lawsuits over the NBA Elections, Egbe wrote: “Despite the blackmail being sponsored against the Egbe and its leaders particularly the insinuation that the Egbe took the NBA, its President and others to Court in Ibadan and obtained ex parte orders, the Egbe wishes to make it very clear and emphatic that it was pushed to the wall. First, despite several appeals and letters written by the Egbe to all organs of the NBA, its Board of Trustees, as well as past Presidents and Secretaries, not a single response was received; all the letters were treated with ignominy. Second, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, openly declared that he would not obey the orders, and he made good his decision.”

Hinting that critics cannot approbate and reprobate, Egbe wrote: “Third, these accusers have readily forgotten that, in the recent past, their principal took the then Chairman of the Body of Benchers, the Body of Benchers itself and others to court in Lagos, fighting as if it were a ‘do-or-die affair’ over the ordinary chairmanship of the Appointments Committee of the Body. He took the Body to the cleaners through the processes he filed. The matter was only withdrawn from court after he had bulldozed his way through by retrieving the chairmanship. In retrospect, the Egbe now knows why that ferocious legal battle was waged in respect of an otherwise innocuous position of Chairman of the Appointments Committee of the Body of Benchers. Through that position, which has now been politicised for the first time in the cherished history of the Body. Recruitment is now being made to swell the membership of their oligarchy; and 50% of the membership of the ECNBA were elevated to the Body of Benchers almost immediately after their recruitment to the ECNBA. Cronies and personal aides, and attendants of ‘the Boss’ and Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, now dominate the Body of Benchers. In vendetta, they are always in a haste to remove those they perceive as not loyal to them from any statutory position and replace them with their cronies. Two recent examples will suffice: the removal of Chief J.S. Okutepa, SAN, a frontline lawyer, from the Body of Benchers on the political ground that he accepted to serve as leading counsel to Egbe Amofin; and the promotion of a particular female aspirant from the Egbe to the membership of the Council of Legal Education, almost immediately after she switched her support from Aare Akinboro, SAN, and ‘cross carpeted’ to the side of their preferred candidate. The NBA has never been near the scandals into which it has now been plunged; and, if care is not taken, they will soon plunge the Body of Benchers into similar problems, as it is now under their grip. They are, within the NBA, in power, government and authority, and they think they are in absolute control. Even within the Egbe, they deploy ‘divide-and-rule tactics’ to corner a few of its members, including a tiny tribe who, though they had benefited so much from the support of the Egbe in previous elections, have decided to team up with the Cabal for now because they believe they have an axe to grind with the Egbe.

“In closing, the Egbe wants to borrow from the recent admonition of a respected Nigerian to the NBA, to the effect that “The institutional credibility of the NBA is at stake. The process of our elections must be examined through the lens of Rule of Law, public confidence and democratic legitimacy. The NBA internal governance must be connected with the broader constitutional role of lawyers in the society. Lawyers cannot credibly demand democratic standards from others unless they uphold such standard within their own Association”

The NBA is yet to respond to the latest development.

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