00:00So this Saturday, 18th of July, the Nigerian Bar Association will have a decisive election
00:09for national officers.
00:11And a lot of issues, you know, surround this election.
00:17Usually in the constitution of the NBA, the presidents of the NBA are selected from the
00:27old regions of the north, the east, and southwest.
00:34So the north comprises from Abuja Elf City to the old northern region.
00:42The southwest comprises Lagos and Edo and Data State, so those three.
00:50And then the eastern region includes the former eastern region including the other part of
00:55South-South, Port-A-Court, that's River State, Cross River, and Aqua Ebon.
01:01So all of those are in the southeastern region.
01:05This election, it happens to be the turn of the southwest.
01:11And then in the previous elections where it has been the turn of the southwest, the people
01:19of Edo had always produced the president.
01:23Now, there are a lot of societies.
01:25You have the Ibrahimovian, that is the law society of the Europas.
01:32You have the one for the southeast.
01:36You have the one for the south-south, they call the Midwest Bar Forum.
01:44So the Midwest Bar Forum had always produced the president when it comes to the turn of
01:49the southwest, at least in the two previous elections.
01:53And the southwest are not happy about this.
01:56So this period of time, they endorse a candidate who have three frontrunners, the Mr. Muyu Wa Kimboru,
02:07S.A.N.
02:08We have Latif Akombe, S.A.N.
02:11Then we have a female, the only female in the Amis, Oyinkashola, Badejom or Kusom.
02:23I think that's in the name if I'm correct.
02:25So these are the three frontrunners.
02:27Only one woman in the Amis and then two men.
02:30Now the Yoruba society, a law society, chose Muyu Wa Kimboru as their candidate.
02:40But the other contestants are not happy with it.
02:44They choose to still run it, despite the fact that the Yoruba extractions have chosen a candidate,
02:52they have endorsed a candidate.
02:54So a lot of issues are coming up as a result of this.
02:59It appears like the generality of the lawyers because the election is universal suffrage.
03:07Universal suffrage means that now all lawyers will have to vote.
03:12Before it used to be a delegate system.
03:15So a delegate system means that every branch of the NBA, over 129 branches,
03:20they will begin to appoint delegates that will come to elect the leaders.
03:24But now it's universal suffrage.
03:26So universal suffrage means that every lawyer will have to vote.
03:29So that means that the fate of every candidate is in the hand of lawyers,
03:33especially young lawyers that make up the bulk of the population of lawyers.
03:39So it appears like the candidate of the Southwest is not so confident that he's going to win because he's
03:51not getting endorsement from the other regions.
03:55And they are afraid that the president of Najamba Association has also endorsed the only female contestant in the race.
04:05But the good thing is that all of them are from Southwest and all of them are from the Yoruba
04:09extractions.
04:10Meaning that the Midwest Bar Forum refused to fill the candidate.
04:16But it appears they also endorsed one of those candidates, aside the one that was endorsed by the Yoruba Law
04:25Society.
04:26So this has brought a lot of tension.
04:29They are questioning the electoral process.
04:31They believe that it will be rigged.
04:33And the Attorney General of the Federation, who is the chair of the Bar Council, has advised that the election
04:41should be postponed.
04:41In fact, some group of people went and filed a suit against the election, asking the court to stop the
04:50election, which they got from a high court in Ibadan.
04:54But just a few days ago, the Court of Appeal has set aside that decision of Ibadan court, setting the
05:02stage for this election to progress and to proceed.
05:05So at the moment now, the election is taking place.
05:09And there are issues because the Attorney General of the Federation, who has asked that this election be extended, has
05:17caused a lot of disagreement and debate.
05:21And the many lawyers are really, you know, asking questions as to why the Attorney General is trying to middle
05:28into the election of the Bar.
05:29They believe that the NBA is an independent body, you know, that his oppression should be handled by the national
05:37officers.
05:38So as it is today, we believe that the election will go on as being pronounced by the Court of
05:43Appeal.
05:44The outcome of the election might be something else.
05:47From the look of things, he does appear like if the anointed candidate did not win, there's likelihood that he's
05:55going to challenge this election.
05:57And there could be a crisis because the way it is that the Attorney General of the Federation, who is
06:03the chairman of the General Council of the Bar, has the towers to appoint administrators if there is a crisis
06:12at the Bar.
06:12So if he's already an interested party in this matter, there's likelihood that after the election, if their candidate did
06:18not win, there may be some level of crisis at the NBA.
06:22We hope and pray that it does not come to pass because we want a peaceful NBA.
06:28be able to read each other and try to try one free źµ¬ė
and predict.
06:30I hope so.
06:32I hope that the ceremony is outstanding.
06:32Right out there.
Comments