Alltimepost.com Investigation, By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
From August 19 – 26, 2022, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) will hold its 62nd Annual General Meeting, tagged ‘Bold Transitions’ at the Eko Atlantic City, Lagos State of Nigeria.
Part of the activities lined up for Day 2 of the conference is a plenary, titled ‘NBA in Transition – Conversation with NBA presidents.’
In the breakout sessions, participants will discuss issues related to the ‘regulation of legal profession in Nigeria,’ reflections on the state of legal education in Nigeria and attempt to restore the dignity of the legal profession in Nigeria.
But days before this very important gathering of the NBA, there are indications that the NBA conference will be held under conditions of rancor.
Rancor seemed to have started right after the June 9, 2022, meeting in Ilorin Kwara state when the NEC of the NBA resolved to amend certain sections of its constitution.
According to sources, the NBA said it wanted to amend Section 23 (8) which is related to an increment of amount from the Bar practicing remitted to the branches. The section of the NBA constitution 2015 (as amended) that guides its amendment is 25 (1).
That section indicates that ‘the constitution shall not be amended or repealed or re-enacted except at the Annual General Meeting of the Association and two-third of the branches of the Association are represented and provided further that at least sixty (60) days’ notice of the proposed amendment shall have been given to the General Secretary who shall have circulated same to delegates at least thirty (30) days before the proposed amendment is tabled for discussion at the Annual General Meeting.
Following this decision to amend the NBA constitution, twenty NBA chairmen sent a notice of amendment proposal on June 14th, 2022, to Joyce Oduah, Secretary General of the NBA.
Alltimepost.com findings indicate that in addition to this notice, the Constitution Review Committee was also to have sent in their proposals for the amendments but did not.
In an August 14, 2022, letter, titled Setting the Record Straight, Joyce Oduah said that many days after she had called the attention of the President of the NBA, and the Review Committee to Section 25(1), she was ignored for the most part.
Eventually, the Review Committee sent in the items for amendment on July 26th 2022 – clearly late and in contravention of the requirements of Section 25(1) of the NBA Constitution.
In due course, the President of the NBA, Olumide Akpata was said to have instructed erstwhile Secretary General, Joyce Oduah to send AGM members items proposed for amendment in the NBA constitution.
Oduah complied but sent in only the notice of amendment sent by the twenty chairmen. She did not include that from the Constitution Review Committee because it did not meet the requirement of Section 25(1).
Our findings indicate that at first the National President allegedly requested Oduah to sidestep the provisions of the Constitution that required the Review Committee to meet conditions stipulated in Section 25 (1).
Alltimepost.com was told that when Oduah refused, Mr. Akpata allegedly moved against her. On the 28th of July 2022, he allegedly asked the assistant general secretary to send out a second notice of proposed amendment to the constitution and attached the proposal sent by the Constitution Review Committee that did not meet the 60-day requirement of Section 25 (1). Next, Mr. Akpata, together with his EXCO members were said to have left the NBA EXCO Wassap group chat.
From thence, Joyce Oduah alleged that she has been subjected to one form of mob action or the other over her refusal to ignore the provisions of the NBA Constitution she swore to uphold.
At the time of our visit to the NBA office at Plot 1102 Muhammadu Buhari Way, Central Business District in Abuja for more facts finding, all the EXCO members including Joyce Oduah were not in their offices.
Senior administrative officers refused to speak with our Abuja correspondent and did not volunteer any kind of information.
“This is an internal matter which we are keen to resolve internally.” a senior official in the NBA Offices told Alltimepost.com.
Alltimepost.com had learnt that Mr. Olumide Akpata suspended Joyce Oduah from further performing her duties as General Secretary to the NBA. There is, however, another version to this part of the story, as reported by Premium Times on August 15, 2022.
The Premium Times report was based on a resolution purportedly signed by nine NBA EXCO members, suspending Oduah, on Monday August 15, 2022, at a meeting reportedly presided over by the organization’s 1st Vice President, John Aikpokpo Martins with the NBA president, Mr. Akpata voluntarily withdrawing to play the role.
The principal among the allegations levelled against her was her recent unilateral withdrawal of notices for the amendment of the association’s constitution. The constitution amendment, by the earlier notices, was meant to be considered at the association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled to begin on 19 August in Lagos.
The suspension of the NBA General Secretary, Joyce Oduah, comes days before the commencement of the association’s Annual General Meeting.
Sources told Alltimepost.com that despite Akpata’s withdrawal from playing the role of President in the suspension exercise, he allegedly directed the job.
The Akpata-led EXCO said it relied on section [20 (i)] of the NBA Constitution 2015 (as amended in 2021) which involves modalities for disciplinary actions, to pursue the suspension of the General secretary.
Even though Oduah’s EXCO members are unhappy with her decision to stick to the letters of the NBA constitution, some senior and junior members of the Bar disagree with the decision of the Akpata-led EXCO to suspend the General Secretary.
Nduka Okatta, former social secretary of the NBA during the 2014 EXCO told Alltimepost.com that just as Mr. Akpata was voted in as President, so was Oduah and other members of the EXCO.
“There’s no place in the Constitution of the NBA 2015 (as amended) where the President or his EXCO can unilaterally suspend a member of his EXCO who was elected just as much as the President was elected into her office as Secretary General.
“Can the president of Nigeria suspend somebody like the Senate President?” Mr. Okatta asked, while talking to Alltimepost.com.
Chima Okereke, another lawyer said that it is a bit awkward that the NBA president or his EXCO allegedly suspended the General secretary. “What is expected is that the matter must be referred to the EXCO-NEC for consideration, and whatever decisions are taken must be ratified by the highest decision-making bodies of the Bar – the NEC and the AGM.” Mr. Okereke said.
Word on the street indicates that the power play between the Akpata-led NBA EXCO and its erstwhile General Secretary is a fight over money. A source who begged for anonymity, told Alltimepost.com that Joyce Oduah is just being persecuted on the suspicion that she was the mole that revealed the dark secrets involving how monies were supposed to have been shared among the EXCO members.
“These monies are in fact unaccounted for dues that come in from branches of the NBA all over Nigeria. Mind you, these are allegations, and Oduah is just the fall guy in a manner of speaking.
“The real people spilling the beans on the awkward manner the Akpata-led NBA is running the NBA are basically in the shadows,” the source said.
We reached Mr. Olumide Akpata, NBA president but he was unwilling to discuss these issues with us.
“I’m sure you know that Joyce Oduah has gone to court to challenge her suspension as General Secretary. As a law-abiding citizen, I will only talk to you only after the matter has been resolved through the courts,” Mr. Akpata told Alltimepost.com Abuja correspondent.
All efforts to reach Joyce Oduah for comments at the time of filing this story proved abortive.
Onlookers believe that if the internal wrangling within the Akpata-led EXCO, continue right into the AGM there would be no way the NBA will be able to achieve its quest to boldly transit from the perception of a corrupt association seeking to genuinely put its house in order.
