NBA CRISIS: SAN WRITES CJN, SEEKS CARETAKER C’TE
Fiery Bar leader and former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos Branch Chairman, Mr. Chijioke Okoli SAN has urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen (GCON) to set up a Caretaker Committee to run the affairs of the troubled NBA.
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In a letter dated June 9, 2017 and signed by him, Okoli noted that Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had “unequivocally and pointedly” nullified the amended 2015 NBA Constitution “and everything done or purported to have been done thereunder.”
Arising from the judgement, the respected Senior Advocate of Nigeria argued that “The NBA leadership (under A. B. Mahmoud SAN), having been ushered into office on the basis of elections conducted under the said constitution, has unquestionably lost legal validity.”
He noted that rather than comply with the dictates of the judgement, “Mr. Mahmoud has been treating the otherwise binding judgement with scorn and derision. This is as dangerous as it is unacceptable for a multiplicity of self-evident reasons.”
Okoli observed that he had on May 24, 2017 written to Mahmoud to draw his attention to these anomalies, adding that the crisis “requires decisive intervention by leaders of the Bar and all those primarily concerned with the administration of justice in our country.” He specifically urged the Body of Benchers, of which the Chief Justice is chairman, to redress the situation.
Giving the rationale for the quest for Caretaker Committee, the Bar leader said it was “informed by the fact of the total incapacitation of the officers of the NBA by the said court’s judgement against the backdrop of some provisions of the Legal Practitioners Act….” According to Okoli, Section 10(2) – (5) of the LPA empowers the Body of Benchers to set up a Caretaker Committee “to manage the affairs of the NBA for a period not exceeding 12 months. The Caretaker Committee appears to be sorely needed to save the Association and the machinery of administration of justice in the country from other disputes.”
Okoli had intimated Mahmoud on why he must vacate office, adding: “Even more disconcerting, however, has been the nonchalance, if not disdain, which underpin the reactions of the office of NBA presidency (under your watch) to the judgement. It has proceeded as if nothing has happened.”
Continuing, the senior lawyer said: “As weighty as they are, the untoward practical effects of your stance regarding the judgment as discussed in this letter probably pale into secondary importance in comparison with the damaging effect on the concept of rule of law. The NBA rightly professes rule of law as an article of faith, but its current stance under your watch is the antithesis of the sacred concept.”
It is recalled that Justice Tsoho had in the suit, Olasupo Ojo v Incorporated Trustees of NBA invalidated the constitution on the ground that it was not registered at the Corporate Affairs Commission. 
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