NOTES ON NBA ELECTIONS – PART 2

My first NOTE on the forthcoming NBA 2024 Elections entitled “WHO WINS NBA PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 2024?” generated so much heat – applause and criticism alike.

I am not particularly surprised as it is actually my aim to stir a conversation. As I told callers that innudate me with calls, the article is the first in the series of commentaries that I intend to run on the state of the Bar as the elections impend.

One of such callers is my Distinguished Learned Friend, Mayowa Owolabi, a contestant in the last elections in Lagos Branch. After chanting the sobriquet, “FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE” which he always hails me with for my incessant and innumerous Press Releases (😆), he went on to contest vigorously my assertion that Bisi Makanjuola, the incumbent Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Lagos Branch and my fellow (Senior) Alumnus of the Great Ife Law, beat him in the election in a “dazzling razzmatazz” (my words). In reality, he asserted that he lost only by 1 percent and that Bisi Makanjuola and his humble self have been working together for the progress of the Bar.

Curious readers of the first piece will also observe that the piece mentioned the disqualification of Joyce Oduah. Events have since taken a further shape as Joyce Oduah has accepted her fate and has endorsed Chukwuka Ikwuazom SAN. Clearly, there is an affinity of a sort between the duo, given the break of the former with Olumide Akpata in the latter days of his Presidency. It however becomes an entire issue how the endorsement is of electoral weight in the changing dynamics of the Presidential race by each dawning day.

This series will not limit itself to the Presidential race alone. According to the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, while the trio of Chukwuka Nwabueze Ikwuazom SAN, Mazi Afam Josiah Osigwe SAN
and Mr. Tobenna Chigbo Erojikwe were cleared for the presidential race, a total number of 6 candidates were cleared to run for the Office of First Vice President, namely Mr. Bartholomew Aguegbodo, Dr. Gerald Ugochukwu Abonyi, Dr. Promise Wobo Iwezor, Mr. Reginald Iheanyichukwu Ugwuadu, Mr. Sabastine Ubua Anyia and Mr. Soseipiriye Williams.

While one of the leading candidates for the Office of the First Vice-President is a former Governor of the Eastern Bar Forum, the organic platform of lawyers from the Eastern Zone extraction, it remains a puzzle in the minds of analysts whether the Eastern Bar Forum is still a relevant clearing-house of candidates in the face of this long list of her members vying for the same position.

For the Office of the Second Vice President, the ECNBA cleared Mrs. Bolatumi Olasunbo Animashaun of NBA Lagos Branch and Mr. Pius Idemudia Oiwoh of NBA Benin Branch. While both branches fall within the Western Zone of the Nigerian Bar Association, it is a matter of introspection for pundits how the candidate from Benin Branch will defeat a candidate from the “Almighty” Lagos Branch and a sole candidate for that matter – in actual fact, a former Vice Chairman of the Branch to boot.

For the office of the Third Vice President, the persons of Mr. Michael Olarenwaju Olorunmola and Mrs. Zainab Aminu Garba have been cleared. While Olorunmola is of Lokoja Branch, thereby qualified as a Member of the Nigerian Bar Association in the Northern Zone, it is altogether another factor how tribe and tongues will play a role in the election into this office.

For the Office of General Secretary, the duo of Mr. Abdulwasiu Alfa and Dr. Mobolaji Idris Ojibara of Ilorin Branch have been cleared. This is actually not Ojibara’s first shot. He has contested for the same office in 2018, losing in a close skirmish with his fellow Ilorin Branch brothers to Gunu Taidi (now SAN) in the Presidency of Paul Usoro SAN. It is altogether another thing how his experience will provide him with an edge against his opponent.

For the Office of Assistant General Secretary, Mr. Barnabas Ehi Henry will be slugging it out with Mr. Oluwaseun Aka of Ikorodu Branch, now popularly known as “Seun Aka of Nigeria”. He is also not a first-time contestant, having lost in 2020 elections to Unchenna Nwadialo, daughter of that legal text writer, Nwadialo on Civil Procedure, and a member of NBA Lagos Branch. It is also a keen contest to watch out for.

For the Office of National Treasurer, Mrs. Blessing Imo Udofa-Poromon, Mrs. Caroline Obi and Mr. Chukwuemeka Aloysius Mbamala were cleared.

For the office of Welfare Secretary, Mr. Aigbokhai Oaikhena Osagie, Mr. Ernest Ezindu Uwanaka and Mr. Nyada Auta were also cleared.

For the office of National Publicity Secretary, Mrs. Bridget Ijeoma Edokwe of “Barrister.ng,” Mr. Charles Olawale Ajiboye, the incumbent National Assistant Publicity Secretary and Mr. Ferdinand Afam Naza, the immediate past National Assistant Publicity Secretary were cleared. It will be recalled that Mr. Ferdinand Afam Naza did not hide his tendential roots and attachment to the regional platform of Eastern Bar Forum and rode consciously on her organisational network to beat Charles Ajiboye of Ikeja Branch in the election of 2020. With the Editor of “Barrister .Ng” in the mix, pundits are weighing in the scales how the “magic wand” of being an “EBF boy” will avail Mr. Ferdinand Afam Naza in the forthcoming election.

For the office of Assistant Publicity Secretary, Miss Ebiere Emmanuella Ekpese will be slugging it out with
Mr. Lawrence Ikpehai Ayewa.

Watch out for the next edition as we reel out systematic analysis of the forces at play in the imminent elections.

AYO ADEMILUYI ESQ is a Bar Activist. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of the groups he belongs to in the Nigerian Bar Association. 

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