Fiery activist and senior lawyer, Chief Malcolm Omirhobo has warned the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) leadership to steer clear of its planned pro bono services to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In a statement made available to CITY LAWYER and titled “NBA, INEC DO NOT NEED YOUR FREE LEGAL SERVICES,” Omirhobo wrote: “I wish to bring to the notice of Mr. Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, president of the Nigerian Bar Association that the Independent National Electoral Commission has budgeted over N3bn to defend the results of the February 25 presidential and national assembly election and the March 18 governorship and state assembly polls and consequently will not be needing free legal services from members of NBA .

“I therefore advise the NBA to get her priorities right by channeling her energy towards providing free legal services for indigent Nigerians who are victims of unlawful violence during 2023 elections, prosecute those involved in electoral mal practices and corruption and find ways to improve on our electoral laws.”

CITY LAWYER recalls that the Yakubu Maikyau SAN-led NBA recently called for application from lawyers interested in participating in the scheme.

In a statement titled “CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST – NBA-INEC PRO BONO SERVICES,” NBA wrote: “In a meeting between the NBA President, Mr Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau OON, SAN and the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu held on Thursday 9 February 2023 to discuss the forthcoming 2023 general elections, the NBA President pledged the NBA’s support to INEC in the conduct of free, fair, credible, inclusive and verifiable elections emphasizing that we [the legal profession] owe Nigerians the duty of sincere participation in all election processes.

“In furtherance of our commitment to support INEC as indicated above, the NBA is setting up a team of lawyers to provide pro bono services to INEC for the handling of electoral matters including the prosecution of electoral offences arising from the 2023 general elections. We, therefore, call on interested members of the NBA to submit expressions of interest (EOI) for the provision of pro bono services to INEC under the NBA-INEC pro bono Services Scheme.”

Many lawyers have berated the NBA leadership for the controversial scheme, saying INEC has enough budgetary allocation to pay for legal services.

To join our Telegram platform, please 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 TWITTER at https://twitter.com/CityLawyerMag. To ADVERTISE in CITY LAWYER, 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.