These are not the best of times for foremost Bar Leader and Chairman of the Body of Benchers, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo SAN as former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Mr. Paul Usoro SAN has asked him to count him out of tomorrow’s scheduled colloquium by “Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Abuja.”

In a searing letter obtained by CITY LAWYER and dated 16th May, 2024, Usoro who is the Chairman of the BOSAN Leadership Committee which is saddled with organising its event, stated that he was not privy to the planning of the event, adding that it would lead to a factionalized BOSAN.

Former NBA President, Mr. Augustine Alegeh SAN had also challenged Awomolo’s recent committee appointments as Body of Benchers Chairman, listing several alleged infractions of the Body of Benchers Regulations 2024.

Awomolo had telephoned CITY LAWYER to express displeasure over the report on Alegeh’s letter, warning that it breached the Cybercrime Act and that the email was “private” communication to benchers.

Awomolo had telephoned CITY LAWYER to express displeasure over the report on Alegeh’s letter, warning that it breached the Cybercrime Act and that the email was “private” communication to benchers.

In an extensive letter dated 6th May, 2024, BOSAN Leader, Chief Alfred Kasunmu SAN had asked all invitees to the colloquium, including the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, to shun the event, describing it as “illegal, in breach of the constitution of BOSAN and antithetical to the philosophical ideals underpinning the establishment of the Body.”

Heaping more pressure on the foremost Life Bencher, Usoro stated that it would be setting a “terrible precedent” for him, as the Chairman of the Leadership Committee, to now “rubber-stamp” the “divisive Colloquium of a factionalized BOSAN” as Chief Host, “and worse still, a Colloquium that I was not even given the courtesy of knowing anything whatsoever about its planning.”

He stated that “I truly wished I was consulted before the printing of this Invitation Card, with my name as the Chief Host, because I would, most respectfully, have dissuaded the organisers from this patently divisive course – and I say this with very profound respect, Sir.”

He said that he viewed the planned event “with regret and quite some tinge of disappointment,” adding that the colloquium was in breach of the procedures of the BOSAN Leadership Committee as all ideas about conferences and seminars ought to be “channeled to the (Leadership) Committee for implementation under the auspices of the unified and united Body.”

According to the former NBA President, “Even as I write, I, as the Chairman of the Leadership Committee, do not know who has been invited for the event, who the speakers are, what topics or issues they will address – indeed, I know next to nothing about the event. With the greatest respect, Sir, that is not how the Leadership Committee of the Body works.”

Usoro stated that “the organisers of this event have not been fair to me at all or to BOSAN as a Body,” even as he called on Awomolo “as our elder and Father (to) please call them to order and dissuade them from this factionalizing course. We inherited a united BOSAN and a united and non-factionalized BOSAN we must maintain, nurture and build for our successors.”

It is unclear at press time whether Awomolo, who was instrumental to the rebirth of NBA after a 6-year hiatus, will forge ahead with the colloquium.

To join our CITY LAWYER Channel on WhatsApp, click here

To join our Telegram platform, click here 

COPYRIGHT 2022 CITY LAWYER. Please send emails to citylawyermag@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at https://web.facebook.com/City-Lawyer-Magazine-434937936684320 and on “X” (TWITTER) at https://twitter.com/CityLawyerMag. To ADVERTISE in CITY LAWYER or for Special Features, please email citylawyermag@gmail.com or call 08138380083.

All materials available on this Website are protected by copyright, trade mark and other proprietary and intellectual property laws. You may not use any of our intellectual property rights without our express written consent or attribution to www.citylawyermag.com. However, you are permitted to print or save to your individual PC, tablet or storage extracts from this Website for your own personal non-commercial use.