Immediate past Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Treasurer Caroline Ladidi Anze-Bishop has urged the NBA Constitution Review Committee to expunge section 9(3)(b) of the NBA Constitution .

Section 9(3)(b) of the NBA Constitution bars lawyers in public office from contesting for the offices of NBA President, Vice Presidents and General Secretary during NBA Elections.

In a memorandum obtained by CITY LAWYER, Anze-Bishop whose quest to contest the post of General Secretary was toppled by the constitutional provision, also expressed her “grudge with the provision of section 21(4) and paragraph 3 Part IX of the Second Schedule of the Constitution of the Nigerian Bar Association (as Amended in 2021) with finality powers to the National Officers Election Appeal Committee for offending the powers of the Court as expressly provided in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). I humbly propose that the said section and paragraph be expunged from the NBA Constitution to reflect our noble Association’s adherence to the rule of law.” Section 21(4) of the NBA Constitution provides that “The decision of the Dispute Resolution Committee shall be final and binding on the parties.”

The former NBA Treasurer also canvassed as follows: “It is additionally proposed that all past National Officers of the Nigerian Bar Association shall be automatic members of the National Executive Council for at least 4 four (sic) consecutive years subject to a renewal for another term of four years. This will enable an opportunity for the Bar to tap into their wealth of experience and advance the Bar and its objectives further and better.”

Throwing more light on her quest to have Section 9(3)(b) expunged from the NBA Constitution, the fiery Bar Leader wrote: “The said section 9(3)(b) of the NBA Constitution came to full effect and raised an uproar in the last General Election where I was disqualified from participating in that election where I had vied for the office of General Secretary for the reason that I was a staff of the Nigerian Society and Civil Defence Corps, albeit on leave of absence to further my academic career and serve the Bar better. It was keenly contested in court which resolved that the said provision is within the internal affairs of the Nigerian Bar Association, hence the need to also explore this opportunity in campaigning for equal opportunities for all lawyers within the Bar.”

Below is the full text of the memorandum.

30th March, 2025

The Chairman,
NBA Constitution Review Committee,
NBA National Secretariat,
NBA House, Plot 1101, Muhammadu Buhari Way,
Central Business District,
FCT-Abuja.

Dear Sir,

A PROPOSAL FOR THE EXPUNGEMENT OF SECTION 9(3)(b) OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION (AS AMENDED) IN THE ON-GOING NBA CONSTITUTION REVIEW EXERCISE

The above subject matter kindly refers.

With profound humility and shared comradeship at the Bar, I bring you fraternal greetings and congratulations on your deserved appointment to serve our darling Association in the tasking though noble capacity of chairing the committee set up to consider the review of her extant Constitution.

I am confident that with your wealth of experience, dedication to duty and soaring sense of utilitarian good, you will direct the activities of your Committee to reflect the aims and objectives of our dear Association in promoting the rule of law, carrying every lawyer along regardless of gender, means and area of practice, reflective of the foremost principle of the rule of law: equality of all before the law.

Our maker who is the bestower of all good knowledge will continue to equip your Committee members and you with the necessary wherewithal to successfully carry out this sacred mandate. Thus, I pray, sir.

On the need to expunge section 9(3)(b) of the NBA Constitution
I humbly propose that the NBA Constitution Review Committee considers the expungement of section 9(3)(b) of the NBA Constitution which reserves the offices of President, Vice Presidents and General Secretary strictly for lawyers in private practice against the interest of lawyers in the public spaces.

The said section 9(3)(b) of the NBA Constitution came to full effect and raised an uproar in the last General Election where I was disqualified from participating in that election where I had vied for the office of General Secretary for the reason that I was a staff of the Nigerian Society and Civil Defence Corps, albeit on leave of absence to further my academic career and serve the Bar better. It was keenly contested in court which resolved that the said provision is within the internal affairs of the Nigerian Bar Association, hence the need to also explore this opportunity in campaigning for equal opportunities for all lawyers within the Bar.

May I humbly but firmly submit that section 9(3)(b) of the NBA Constitution contravenes the mantra of the Nigerian Bar Association as far as promoting the rule of law remains its major objective. Equality of all persons before the law is the second leg of the tripartite bastions of the principle of the rule of law as espoused by Prof. A. V. Dicey. By section 4(1)b) of the NBA Constitution as amended in 2021, every member of the Bar who has paid their Bar Practicing Fees and Branch Dues is eligible to vote and be voted for in accordance with the positions that fit in their ages at the Bar and section 9(3)(b) of the same Constitution runs in sharp contradiction to the said provision. Does the NBA Constitution not self-contradict? A pregnant rhetoric.

It is my shared conviction that section 9(3)(b) of the NBA Constitution, by exclusively reserving the offices of President, Vice Presidents and General Secretary, whatever the motive, bears to the unfair and unequal exclusion of lawyers in the public spaces. Even lawyers in the public spaces are beginning to have their fair share and pride of place in the conferment of the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, why not the NBA as well?

I believe that the said section 9(3)(b) creates undue and unfair stratification and/or classes of lawyers which automatically places lawyers in the public spaces somewhere beneath their colleagues in private practice with a firm boundary of perpetual ineligibility to keep them so corralled with an attendant consequence of perpetual discrimination against lawyers in public practice; a situation not contemplated by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) or even by the aims and objectives of our noble Association.

It is further submitted that the said section is moribund, otiose and of no practical value in the 21st Century when and where international standards and best practices warrant the promotion of equality and inclusivity in all human endeavour, especially in professional respects, and to assume as the said section intends: that only a given set of persons or lawyers can lead the Bar in designated respects only bears to diminish the enormous leadership qualities and capacities of lawyers not in private practice. There is strength everywhere, I dare say.

May I further express my grudge with the provision of section 21(4) and paragraph 3 Part IX of the Second Schedule of the Constitution of the Nigerian Bar Association (as Amended in 2021) with finality powers to the National Officers Election Appeal Committee for offending the powers of the Court as expressly provided in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). I humbly propose that the said section and paragraph be expunged from the NBA Constitution to reflect our noble Association’s adherence to the rule of law.

It is additionally proposed that all past National Officers of the Nigerian Bar Association shall be automatic members of the National Executive Council for at least 4 four consecutive years subject to a renewal for another term of four years. This will enable an opportunity for the Bar to tap into their wealth of experience and advance the Bar and its objectives further and better.

I am committed to the affairs of the Bar with a firm dedication to championing her developmental strides and inclusivity of all lawyers. Bar Practice Fees are paid across board by both lawyers in private and those in public spaces only on age at the Bar differentials, so with qualifications to vie for designated offices. But same cannot be said of the Private Bar/Public Bar dichotomy created by section 9(3)(b) of the NBA Constitution which I humbly call on you to consider its expungement from our body of laws.

While thanking you for the honour to make this representation which is hoped meets your committee well as I lie in wait for a favourable consideration of same, and kindly accept the assurances of my professional regards.

Yours faithfully,

CAROLINE LADIDI ANZE-BISHOP, AMICMC
NBA NATIONAL TREASURER (2022-2024)