LEGACY

AKPATA BREAKS SILENCE, MEETS MAIKYAU OVER HANDOVER

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olumide Akpata has made a veiled reference to the crises that have dogged his tenure lately, saying that “It has been one hell of a ride, if I do say so myself.”

Akpata had taken to his verified Twitter handle (@OlumideAkpata) to announce his first official meeting with incoming NBA President, Mr. Yakubu Maikyau SAN after the establishment of their separate transition committees.

In the post sighted by CITY LAWYER, the NBA President said: “Yesterday evening I held a meeting with the President-elect of the @NigBarAssoc, Mr. Y. C. Maikyau, SAN as our recently constituted Transition Committees brainstormed on how best to ensure a seamless handover.”

Akpata then added tersely, “It has been one hell of a ride, if I do say so myself.”

Akpata’s tenure has taken a turbulent turn lately. Aside from the controversies that arose especially with the troubled appeals process that came on the heels of the 2022 NBA Elections, Akpata has waged a running supremacy battle with the Body of Benchers (BoB) over the proposed amendment of the Legal Practitioners Act (Act).

While NBA and the Body of Benchers were still trying to carve a middle ground on the matter through the Mrs. Funke Adekoya Committee, Akpata sensationally wrote to the newly minted BoB Chairman, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, asking him to recuse himself over the Ms. Kunbi Ogunde professional misconduct saga.

CITY LAWYER had in an exclusive report cited a complaint by former Minister of Energy and Petroleum ministries, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia SAN over an email from Ogunde, a Partner in Wole Olanipekun & Co, allegedly soliciting to take over a brief his law firm was handling from his client, SAIPEM SPA. Following his demand for an apology, Wole Olanipekun & Co apologized for the debacle and disowned the Partner. NBA has since filed a petition against the embattled senior lawyer at the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC).

The dust on the highly controversial matter has hardly settled when Akpata engaged in a highly publicized bust-up with the suspended NBA General Secretary, Joyce Oduah.

An attempt by Oduah to bounce back to her position has so far failed, as a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja refused to grant her prayer for interim reliefs, giving Akpata a slight breather. The matter has been adjourned to Tuesday for hearing of the Motion on Notice.

Stakeholders are divided on whether the twilight battles would signpost Akpata’s legacy as NBA President.

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HAUWA: ‘NBA HAS LOST A GREAT LEADER, BRIDGE BUILDER’ – GADZAMA

The Chairman of the Body of Benchers (BoB) Mentoring Committee for Young Lawyers, Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama SAN has described the death of factional Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja Branch Chairman, Dr. Hauwa Shekarau as a huge loss to the legal profession.

In a moving tribute by the pioneer Chairman of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (NBA-SPIDEL), he stated that by the demise of the leading gender activist, “the Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja Branch and even at the National level, has lost one of its great leaders, one who at the time of her death was justly considered a bridge-builder, a beacon of compassion and a leader extraordinaire.”

According to the statement made available to CITY LAWYER, “The passing of Dr. Hauwa is an incalculable loss to the legal family, the female gender advocacy network, the human rights’ society, Nigeria, and the international community in general.”

Below is the full text of the statement.

TRIBUTE TO DR. HAUWA EVELYN SHEKARAU, ESQ: A LEGAL COLOSSUS, ACTIVIST AND THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION (NBA), ABUJA BRANCH (UNITY BAR).
The 15th September, 2021, was a black-letter day for us at J-K Gadzama LLP. It was the day Dr. Hauwa Evelyn Shekarau said goodbyes and bid forever to us mortals. To say the news of her demise was shocking, sudden and saddening is in the least an understatement. It is a news we bear with such heavy hearts for such is life, very fickle and fleeting in moments! We however take comfort that life is but the sum of choices. This is even truer as vividly illustrated in the style and manner the amiable Dr. Hauwa Shekarau chose to live her life. And indeed she lived. She chose her paths, and purposefully so. And left in her trails, giant strides. She walked the walk of greats. She was an amazon who dined amongst kings and queens and left enduring legacies, to outlive her in the race of time. She travelled down uncharted territories, discovered new discoveries, broke new bounds and conquered. And though stricken with grief, we are solemnly gladdening in the rainbow of sterling performances, capacity-building and ground breaking achievements which coloured the journey of our dearest Dr. Hauwa Evelyn Shekarau, here, in the land of mortal.

Our dearest Dr. Shekarau is a woman of big heart and I feel greatly blessed to have crossed paths with her. She was known in different capacity to different people. From her sojourn as a lawyer and women’s rights activist to being a Sexual & Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) specialist, Dr. Shekarau had exhibited uncommon dexterity, hardwork, and determination in living up to the demands of each office and position.

Very illustrious, is Dr. Shekarau, well over 25 years’ post-call experience in women and child rights advocacy. She was National President of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA Nigeria) between 2012 and 2015, served as a board member of several NGOs, and was a nominated delegate to the Nigeria National Conference 2014 as a representative of FIDA, always championing the course of justice in the overall, always a mother, always the voice of the voiceless, always a ready shoulder upon which the rights of women found relevance and overall upliftment.

Until her death, Dr. Shekarau was a “Bar-Woman” through and through. The Nigerian Bar Association has benefitted from her background of rich educational qualification and pool of global experiences as a Chevening Alumnus, having won the British Government Chevening Scholarship in 2006 which prepared her for further educational pursuit to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London in 2007 where she obtained a post-graduate Law Degree in Law and Development.

Dr. Shekarau was Financial Secretary and Treasurer of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja Branch from 1997 to 1999 before her election to the exalted position of a chairperson of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja Branch in June 2020. Quite notable amongst her many strives is the commitment to fostering unity on the backdrop of the many turbulences in the Unity Bar Branch of Abuja prior to her reign as the NBA Chairperson of the Unity Bar in 2020/2021.

In the death of Dr. Hauwa Shekarau, the Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja Branch and even at the National level, has lost one of its great leaders, one who at the time of her death was justly considered a bridge-builder, a beacon of compassion and a leader extraordinaire. The passing of Dr. Hauwa is an incalculable loss to the legal family, the female gender advocacy network, the human rights’ society, Nigeria, and the international community in general.
It is indeed hard to find suitable words to pay tribute to this remarkable woman. It is however fortunate that during her remarkable life, she had the satisfaction of knowing the high esteem in which she was held by her colleagues, especially my humble self.
Rest on.
For your life was a blessing,
Your memory a treasure,
You are loved beyond words,
And missed beyond measure.

JOE-KYARI GADZAMA, OFR, MFR, SAN, FCIArb, C.Arb.
Chairman, Mentoring Committee of the Body of Benchers for Young Lawyers,
Pioneer Chairman, NBA-SPIDEL (2006-2010),
Chairman, NBA, Abuja Branch (2002-2004).

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THE USORO LEGACY: RESOLVING LAWYERS’ DATABASE CONUNDRUM

BY AKOREDE HABEEB LAWAL

In this article, Nigerian Bar Association Assistant Publicity Secretary, AKOREDE HABEEB LAWAL traces the age-old challenge of developing a reliable database of lawyers in Nigeria, saying that the Paul Usoro Administration has admirably resolved the conundrum

It is 2020, another bar election year. At about this time in 2018, there was a unique request by members of the Bar. Contestants to various offices promised heaven and earth on how they intended to provide the unique request. For one unusual and ‘un-Nigerian’ reason, that request is not being made this year. Why? It has been done. The Paul Usoro administration has done it. Members can now pay their Bar Practising Fees (BPF) in the comfort of their homes using the NBA Portal. In fact, 30% of members who paid their BPF in 2020 did through the NBA website.

The NBA website has various unique features. At first glance, it welcomes you with a beautiful feel and an easy to navigate tool. The revamped NBA website compares favourably in content, context and connectivity with the best web portals around. It is a gateway to NBA activities and it is fast becoming a one-stop shop for Bar services.

Speaking of Bar services, aside the already utilized option of payment of BPF and download of the BPF receipts, the NBA website avails members their personalized membership portals. The process for the stamp and seal application will soon migrate online and the insurance certificate of all members will also be duly uploaded for downloads. In the coming days, member will be able to apply for letter of good standing and check his/her ICLE points on the exclusive membership portal, while everyone including non-lawyers may also use the “find a lawyer” feature to confirm the authenticity of anyone who claims to be a lawyer.

Some of the ills of the previous website were that it could not welcome huge traffic and it was not secured to host payment gateways. Therefore, the NBA had to build (of course with millions of Naira) a special purpose website every year for its annual general conference. Good news is that we are done with that awkward situation. Registration has now commenced for the 2020 Annual General Conference and everything about the conference is being done on our revamped NBA website.

A further vote of confidence was given to the NBA website by the decision of the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) to host the 2020 national officers election on the website. When this is done, it will arguably mark the first time since the introduction of electronic voting that Bar balloting is not hosted on a foreign platform.

A website is a house of data and there is no data in this context as important as the data of lawyers. In September 2018, at our first national officers meeting, the NBA President was clear that one of the things his administration would strive to achieve is the development of an up-to-date, clean and reliable database of all lawyers who have been enrolled at the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN hardly spares any opportunity to reiterate the fact that “without a reliable database that could be used for research purposes, proper planning and forecasting by the NBA is impossible.”

It stands to reason that in order to address an issue as sensitive and important as welfare of young lawyers, we must be able to ascertain in actual terms the number of young lawyers there really are. We are on track with this data classification and the one year free subscription of LawPavilion electronic legal resources for all young lawyers who had paid their BPF before 31st of March, 2020 was our first attempt to rely on this data gathering effort. Similar data classification has to be developed for female lawyers, colleagues with disabilities, our aged members and other
classes of members of the NBA.

“By the way, it is good to answer the question of cost. The Paul Usoro administration paid no dime for the new NBA website. We knew what we wanted in a website and we got a sponsor to pay for it.”

In our pursuit of this ‘clean and reliable’ data ideal, the administration embarked on a verification exercise. Verification entails from the front end the inputting of personal data by a member and most importantly the upload of call to bar certificate. At the backend, the uploaded bar certificate will be crosschecked with the details of the member on the roll of legal practitioners before the approval of the application for verification.

The verification process in the past attracted a N2000 processing fee, knowing the overall importance of this exercise, the NBA President, Paul Usoro, SAN directed that the process must and should be free of any charge. With this exercise, a number of misspelt names in the database have been corrected, change of maiden names by female lawyers are being effected, email addresses and phone numbers of thousand of members are now updated, many lawyers now know their enrolment numbers and gradually, we are closer than ever to our aim of delivering a clean and reliable database.

If we ever needed a reminder of the significance of a clean database, the appearance of “Opening Balance” on the list of voters sent by Branches and published by the ECNBA was a ready one. Aside the imaginary “Opening Balance”, there are real charlatans who are ‘well balanced’ in legal practice – taking up the space in our little legal market – that we must wield out. Therefore, verification becomes non-negotiable. It is because of verification that “Opening Balance” and non-lawyers with regular names will be unable to access the NBA Membership portal to vote or illegally enjoy other NBA online services. While the verification agenda was not primarily built for the 2020 national officers’ election, the accreditation purpose it now serves is indeed laudable.

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed our world and opened the vista of virtual interactions. Bar services and engagement within the NBA will have to move online and these have to be fast, quick, secured and effective. The Paul Usoro administration commenced the journey towards revamping the NBA website to provide all these services long before the Covid-19 pandemic. It is a huge foundational task that we have more than completed and it behoves on succeeding administrations to build on this cornerstone.

By the way, it is good to answer the question of cost. The Paul Usoro administration paid no dime for the new NBA website. We knew what we wanted in a website and we got a sponsor to pay for it. Thank you!

Copyright 2020 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 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.