• NBA ZONAL APPEAL COMMITTEES ISSUES DIVERSE DECISIONS

Bar leaders have descended heavily on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Branch Elections Appeal Committee (North) for disqualifying aspirants for branch elections on the basis that virtual meeting attendance is not recognized under the NBA Constitution.

Meanwhile, there are strong indications that the NBA Appeal Committees for the zones are issuing conflicting decisions on similar cases. While the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Branch Elections Appeal Committee (East) held that the adopted minutes of any branch meeting cannot be disturbed under any guise, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Branch Elections Appeal Committee (North) held that such minutes must give way to the provisions of the NBA Uniform Bye-Laws for Branches.

CITY LAWYER had in an exclusive report highlighted a decision by the committee that “Only physical meetings count towards electoral eligibility.” No less than four aspirants were disqualified on this basis. Posing the question “Whether virtual or online attendance at branch meetings could satisfy the constitutional attendance threshold required under the Uniform Bye-Laws,” the committee “held consistently that only the physical attendance register maintained by the Branch Secretary constitutes the valid and recognised record of attendance for electoral qualification purposes.”

But many lawyers have disagreed sharply with the committee, noting that its position violates the NBA Constitution and is also an affront on the ascendancy of technology in legal and judicial circles.

A few lawyers however argued that it would be inappropriate for aspirants who plan to lead a branch to dwell on virtual attendance to meetings as the basis for such quests. The committee did not however state this as its reason for disqualifying the aspirants.

Firing the first salvo, the immediate past NBA Second Vice President Clement Chukwuemeka stated that “It is painful and deeply unfortunate that in this era of digital transformation and AI-driven innovation, when the world and every serious professional association are moving forward, we are moving backward.”

Continuing, the fiery Bar Leader said: “We are rejecting virtual attendance and forcing only physical presence for branch meetings! In 2026! This is not progress. This is a primitive policy that shuts out colleagues, silences voices, and turns back the clock on inclusion and innovation.”

“Lawyers of Nigeria, this is our Bar. Our house. If we do not speak now, if we do not demand better, history will judge us for watching in silence while the soul of our Association erodes,” he concluded.”

Former NBA Lead Prosecutor at the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), Mr. Jibrin Okutepa SAN expressed concern over the decision. In a measured intervention, he wrote: “Truth remains that NBA politics is now more dangerous than conventional politics. Rules are bent to satisfy those we love and strictly interpreted and applied against those we hate.”

Pointing the way forward, the respected Bar Leader warned that “We must salvage NBA with truth with courage of conviction. What is wrong is wrong no matter how we give it baptismal name of right to it.”

On his part, former NBA Ikorodu Branch Chairman, Mr. Adebayo Akinlade wrote: “You would think the NBA will have enough brain power to promote remote meetings and virtual proceedings to encourage technology and the use of it.

“We can vote for candidates for national office without even being a member of an NBA branch or even attending branch meetings but we can’t vote in our branches unless we attend a minimum of 5 meetings physically?”

Dissecting the implications of the decision, he wrote: “One thing is funny to me. A branch like Lagos Branch cannot even find a venue to accommodate all its members? Imagine if a branch of 13,000 members decides to attend every meeting. I am sure even Lagos State Government will ban NBA from holding physical meetings monthly even if it’s to manage traffic!” NBA Lagos Branch membership is put at about 17,000.

Passing his verdict on the committee’s decision, he wrote: “I think it’s just outrightly shameful that in this day and age we can be this archaic,” warning that “It’s decisions like this that spoil the NBA brand. I am very disappointed, to say the least.”

Apparently embittered by the decision which he noted has disenfranchised most young lawyers in NBA Garki Branch which is hardest hit by the decision, a young lawyer, Mr. Ngozi Igbo, wrote: “In my branch, the excos provided the virtual attendance lin; all the attendance reflected in all the minutes of the meeting, only to wake up to the shock that virtual attendance will not be valid for the purpose of election. Like play, like play, the Appeal committee affirmed that decision.”

Querying the rationale behind the decision, Igbo wrote: “We pay branch dues virtually, we register as members virtually, 85% day-to-day activities of the branch are done virtually, but virtual attendance is an abomination!

“Funny enough the Bye-law did not mention physical attendance or physical meeting. How the Appeal committee arrived at their decision is still surprising, but as lawyers, we just have to chorus, as the court pleases!”

Taking solace in a possible amendment of the NBA Constitution to cure the decision, Igbo wrote: “We look forward to the next NBA constitutional amendment; for me, that’s when we will put an end to the current brouhaha. Young lawyers will definitely correct the current abnormalities, because if a Branch can accept virtual membership dues, virtual registration, virtual contributions of all kinds, but rejects virtual meeting attendance because of election, then there is a problem.”

NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) Financial Secretary Barbara Onwubiko also expressed worry that the decision would disqualify a large number of branch members from voting for their choice candidates, saying: “If I tell you how many members are not eligible to vote in my branch because of the issue, you’ll be shocked. Note the deliberate use of the term ‘attendance register,’ which has now been interpreted as a physical attendance record.” This raises the question whether the decision will impact the legitimacy of the branch elections.

Highlighting the ascendancy of virtual platforms in the legal and judicial spheres, Mr. Mohammed Danjuma wrote: “When I stay in my office and conduct my court proceeding at Enugu State High Court; when I stay in the comfort of my home and take my judgment from Court of Appeal, Sokoto; when the Federal High Court is embarking on e-filing; when hearing notices are permissible through electronic means, NBA prefers the ancient method.”

However, writing in defence of the committee’s decision, a fiery rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Edun, wrote: “Have we thought of what would happen if all the branch members decide to attend meetings virtually? For the purpose of election, virtual attendance must not be considered. For the purpose of qualifying to vote and be voted for, it must be physical attendance of meetings.”

But Akinlade countered, saying: “How come that doesn’t apply to the national office, or what are we saying now, before we start talking about INEC?”

Analysts have also pointed out the contradictions inherent in the decision, noting that the NBA recognizes virtual attendance to National Executive Council (NEC) meetings, awards Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points for its virtual courses, and provides virtual platforms for nearly all its programmes including the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Annual General Conference (AGC).

There are strong indications that the committee’s decision cannot be reversed, moreso as CITY LAWYER gathered from unimpeachable sources that NBA President Afam Osigwe SAN told members at the recently concluded National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Awka that the NBA leadership lacks any constitutional power to override the decisions of the appeal committees.

On the spectre of conflicting electoral jurisprudence emerging from the appeal committees, CITY LAWYER observes that NBA Branch Elections Appeal Committee (East) held that “The aforesaid minutes of the meetings in contention as mentioned above having been adopted by members in the subsequent meetings, no one has the right to challenge any part of the said minutes for whatever reason.”

On the other hand, the NBA Branch Elections Appeal Committee (North) held in the matter of Chekwube Osita Ebubealor (NBA Garki Branch) that “Adopted branch minutes cannot override mandatory Bye-Law requirements,” adding that “Only physical attendance register recognised under Bye-Laws.”

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