NBA not in contempt of court-AB Mahmoud

NBA President AB Mahmoud SAN

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) leadership is not in contempt of court by refusing to vacate office following a Federal High Court judgment nullifying the association’s constitution, its president, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), has said.

Justice John Tsoho declared the association’s 2015 amended constitution illegal for non-compliance with the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and for not being registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

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The judge granted the plaintiff’s reliefs, including an injunction restraining NBA and its officers from conducting the association’s affairs on the basis of the constitution.

Mahmoud said the leadership was aware of the judgment which nullified all NBA constitutions since 2001 and had engaged with members and NBA trustees on the way forward.

He said the association has appealed the judgment and asked for a stay of execution, adding that further meeting would be held with the trustees “to discuss the judgment and find a way around it.”

The NBA president spoke in Lagos at a briefing on the inauguration of a Technical Committee on Conference Planning (TCCP) for the association’s Annual General Conference to be held from August 25 to 31 at Eko Hotel and Suites and at other venues in Lagos.

Mahmoud said: “In the meantime, the Bar association has appealed that judgment and there is also an application to set it aside on the ground that the action was improperly constituted, the plaintiff having sued the wrong parties.

“We think this is very disruptive and we shouldn’t allow it to distract us from what we were doing.

“We understand the need to respect court judgments, but we have been advised that once we have filed an application for stay, we’ll not be technically in contempt of that judgment.

“There is also another judgment which was brought to my attention which says exactly the opposite about the NBA constitution. These are part of the challenges which I think we should be able to overcome.

“Hopefully we should build enough consensuses in the Bar to address these challenges.”

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