• SAYS FOCUS SHOULD BE ON CHARACTER AND CAPACITY

One of the leading aspirants for the presidency of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Babatunde Ajibade SAN has disagreed sharply with the position of Chief Adegboyega Awomolo SAN on his call for position to be retained within the rank of senior advocates.

Awomolo had in a letter to former NBA President, Chief Onomigbo Okpoko SAN called for a meeting of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) to deliberate on the matter.

But in a trending post on social media, Ajibade, a senior advocate, disagreed, saying that “The focus should be on the character, capacity and antecedents of persons who aspire to lead our profession and not on their title or rank.”

The full text reads:

THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION IS NOT THE EXCLUSIVE PRESERVE OF SENIOR ADVOCATES OF NIGERIA – DR. BABATUNDE AJIBADE, SAN

My attention has been drawn to a statement made by Asiwaju Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN in which he suggests that the office of President of the Nigerian Bar Association is the exclusive preserve of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs).

I respectfully disagree with this position. There is nothing contained in the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Constitution or in the history of the NBA to support this assertion.

There is near unanimous agreement that one of the most popular and effective Presidents the NBA has had is Late Alao Aka-Basorun and the NBA has had other non-SAN Presidents since.

The focus should be on the character, capacity and antecedents of persons who aspire to lead our profession and not on their title or rank.

There are serious challenges facing the profession at this time and we need to unite the profession in order to effectively address them.

Dr Babatunde Ajibade, SAN, FCIArb.