The Chairmen of branches that form Northern Geopolitical Zone disaffiliate with the new Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) which was formed by aggrieved members following the withdrawal of the invitation sent earlier to Gov. El-Rufai of Kaduna state to be a speaker at an annual conference of the association.
All Zonal Chairmen pledged their support to the leadership of the NBA stressing that they were not in support of the recently formed Factional NBA.They made this known at a meeting held on Wednesday at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with the President of the NBA Olumide Akpata.
Elisha Kura the Acting Chairman of the Arewa Lawyers Forum revealed via a statement made available to the press that Zonal Chairmen had taken the initiative to agree to support the leadership of the NBA only.
See Statement :
“ We have unanimously agreed to support his leadership of the NBA, and we hereby restate our true allegiance to the NBA and dissociate ourselves from the “New NBA” or any splinter group whatsoever making the waves in recent weeks as a new association/body of lawyers in Nigeria.”
“ We understand that the NBA has historically and in recent times been fraught with several challenges but we are indeed assured that the NBA under the leadership of Mr Olumide Akpata will surmount these challenges and birth an all-inclusive Bar that will work for all Lawyers in Nigeria regardless of any part of the divide one may belong.
“ We were gratified to hear the NBA president during his inaugural address restate that the bar that he wants to lead henceforth is one that is united on all fronts and which recognises that our diversity is our greatest strength.
“ At the meeting today, Mr Akpata reassured us that his administration is very keen on ensuring that we do not have only a united bar but also an indivisible one, and we verily believe in him.
“We, therefore, urge all lawyers not only of the northern geopolitical zone, including those behind the establishment of the NNBA but indeed all legal practitioners in Nigeria to please come together to support Mr Olumide Akpata and the new national officers to ensure that they deliver on all their core mandates whilst indeed putting the rule of law, the welfare and capacity development of our members at the forefront.”
MediaOrchid recalls that, Abdulbasit Suleiman, who is identified as one of the leaders of the Factional NBA and promoter of the New Nigeria Bar Association (NNBA), had stipulated that more than 5,000 lawyers had registered with the Factional group.
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