Ayodele Olalere
In less than a month, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), would choose a new leadership.
The Bar is currently under the leadership of Mr Paul Usoro, SAN, as president. He is from the South-south.
As is customary, the leadership of the Bar is rotated every two years among various regions in the country. Therefore, the incoming presidential slot of the association is to be occupied by the South-west zone.
The issue of who succeeds Usoro as the president has been contentious, taking into consideration the calibre of candidates who have shown interest in the coveted seat.
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Three prominent members of the association from the west are eyeing the NBA president’s seat, prominent among whom is the veteran, experienced, and daring Dele Adesina SAN.
Adesina has always shown interest in becoming the Bar president. In 2004, he attempted contesting against Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, but did not succeed. In 2008, his ambition suffered another blow when he was asked to step down for Rotimi Akeredolu, and in 2014, he lost to Austin Alegeh SAN.
He was at a time the chairman of the Ikeja branch of the association. At the national level, he had served as General Secretary of the association.
The popular Egbe Amofin, a body of top and influential legal practitioners from the West has always been a decisive factor on who represents the zone as president of the association.
Whoever Egbe Amofin presents as its candidate has always been the zone’s candidate who wins the coveted position.
This year, the body has pitched its tent with Dele Adesina, as against another prominent contestant, Dr. Babatunde Ajibade SAN, thereby brightening Adesina’s chances of clinching the seat.
However, his choice by Egbe Amofin, did not come without rough-and-tumble.
Adesina also has the backing of top prominent lawyers from the South-west, one of whom is influential Femi Falana SAN.
While narrating how and why the body chose Adesina, Chief Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, a leading and prominent member of Egbe Amofin, who also chaired the committee that produced Adesina as the body’s preferred candidate, said the committee considered several factors before arriving at its decision.
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He denied allegation the process was maneuvered to favour Adesina.
Said he, “Nobody has come out to us to say that he is rejecting the adoption of Egbe Amofin.
“What Egbe did was very transparent, everyone of the would-be aspirants came before the Egbe Amofin at the meeting to express their desire and I remember that day there were four of them that came forward.
“They were all unanimous in electing me to chair the committee, nobody raised any form of objection there,” Akintola said.
He added: “I was seated in the crowd when I was invited to the high table and all of them expressed their confidence in me and the committee. We had criteria for the assignment and when one of them requested for the criteria, I directed the Secretary, Dr. Akintayo to forward it to him. The issue of zoning was to bring in some trouble but that was the first thing we tackled by adopting a template.”
The template, according to him, was to ask chairmen of all the association’s branches in the west to contact their counterparts in other parts of the country on whom they would prefer as the president of the Bar among contestants from the west; Dele Adesina, Dr Tunde Ajibade and Aare Muyiwa Akinboro. The feedback, he said, favoured Adesina.
He spoke further: “Having done that (adopt the template), I remember my silk brothers, Dele Adesina (SAN), Dr Tunde Ajibade, SAN, Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, and Awoniyi, incidentally four of them that came forward that day were going to contest for presidency of the association.
The committee asked chairmen of the association from the western zone to speak with their counterparts from other zone on whom they want to become president of the Bar from the west. The feedback favoured Adesina. The other two candidates decided to step down for Adesina. The vote was 27 against four.”
Akintola also said based on the criteria, Adesina “has geographical spread because Egbe Amofin alone cannot make anyone president of the Bar.”
Adesina’s commitment to the Bar has never been in doubt.
He has been a member of the Ikeja branch, NBA, since 1986 and in 1998 he assumed the Chairmanship of the branch and held the office till 2000.
He also virtually held all the relevant posts in the Ikeja NBA executive such as secretary, publicity secretary, member of NBA disciplinary committee (1998-2002), as well as membership of the conference planning committee in 1998 and 2002-2007.
He was also General Secretary, Nigerian Bar Association (2002 – 2004), Member, Governing Council, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (2002 – 2004), Member, Distinguished Body of Benchers (Since 2006), Former Member, General Council of the Bar (2005), Life Member, National Executive Committee Nigerian Bar Association (Since 2002), Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch (1998 – 2000), Secretary, Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch (1991 -1993), Member, National Political Reform Conference (2005), Member, Judiciary & Legal Reform Committee of the National Political Reform Conference (2005), Member, Board of Regent, Covenant University (Since 2003) and Member, Ekiti State Judiciary Service Commission, among other positions.
Adesina’s endorsement by Egbe Amofin, however, did not go down well with Dr. Tunde Ajibade SAN, who decided to go ahead with contesting the position even without the backing of the body.
He is said to have the backing of some other top lawyers in the west prominent among whom is Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN.
While explaining his reasons for going ahead with the contest, Ajibade said: “I became qualified as a lawyer in 1989. I joined this profession with great aspirations for myself and the profession. But over time, I have seen a consistent decline; decline such that lawyers are now treated with utmost disrespect in society.
“I have seen a situation where our justice sector has become dysfunctional and our clients are beginning to query the utility of using our services because we are incapable of delivering a service, either at all or within a reasonable time. We are incapable of delivering a service that is predictable,” he said.
He added: “We are now in a situation where you tell your client that this is definitely the position, only for you to recant and say the judge decided otherwise, even though the law appeared to be clear.
“I have consistently maintained over the years that something is fundamentally wrong with our justice system and it must be fixed for the good of our society.
“Fortunately, I am not a lone voice on this subject matter. I strongly believe that it is no longer productive to grumble on the sidelines, it is now time for us as lawyers to reform our sector and protect our society.”
However, in spite of his endorsement by Egbe Amofin, and intimidating credentials, Adesina’s ambition is threatened by the emergence of Olumide Akpata SAN, another contestant to the post.
Akpata is very rich, powerful and well-known in the association. He hails from the same state as the former president of the Bar, Austin Alegeh.
He was the immediate past chairman of the association business law section and has taken part in organising annual conferences of the association.
Internationally, Akpata is well known. He is currently the Vice-Chairman (West Africa) of the International Bar Association’s Africa Regional Forum.
His closeness to the current president of the association, Usoro, SAN, has been considered as a plus to his ambition.
He is believed to be the ‘anointed candidate’ of the current president as a result of their closeness. Olumide hails from Edo State.
