BY TONYE CLINTON JAJA

“Evil will Destroy itself in the Long Run: How Lack of Integrity in Handling Annual Conferences and Elections will Eventually Cause Self-Implosion of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)”

Prof. Okechukwu Oko is a professor of law at the Southern University, Louisiana, USA. He was my direct supervisor at the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILDS), Abuja. He used to repeatedly tell me: “Evil will destroy itself in the long run.”

The context and background to this profound statement is that the then Chief Executive Officer of the institute was known as an “evil genius” who was in the habit of hatching and executing all manner of evil plots to prevent any staff from succeeding her as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Eventually, Prof. Oko’s profound statement turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, because it was this CEO’s evil plot to amend the establishment law of the institute to give herself a third term that triggered her removal by the former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in his capacity as Chairman of the Governing Council of the institute.

The questions about the integrity, transparency of both the annual conferences and national elections of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) have been a recurring problem that the NBA has refused to address.

As an African proverb says: “When a child is crying and pointing his hand toward one direction, if his father is not there, then his mother must be there.”

Instead of addressing these twin issues, some lawyers have trivialized it by saying that those complaining about the transparency and integrity of NBA elections are sore losers.

In the past, the major person to blame for this was Chief JK Gadzama SAN; but after the last NBA elections, Messrs Tobenna Erojikwe and Chukwuka Ikwuazom SAN were added to the list.

The current crisis in the NBA relating to the forthcoming NBA Annual General Conference is another evidence that there is a “fundamental” problem.

As Professor Oko would say: “Evil will destroy itself in the long run”. The NBA is headed in that direction-self-implosion!!!

While there is still time, we are welcoming lawyers to the Nigerian Law Society (NLS). Visit our website and register as a member, it is free: https://members.nls.org.ng/register

• Dr. Jaja is the Executive Director at the Nigerian Law Society (NLS)

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