by Legalnaija | Jul 24, 2018 | Uncategorized
PAUL USORO SPEAKS ON THE ART OF CROSS-EXAMINATION AT THE NBA, LAGOS BRANCH AGM
At the 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos Branch, which held on the 23rd of July at the Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, Learned Silk, Paul Usoro, SAN presented a paper during the Knowledge Sharing Session titled, “The Art of Cross-Examination”.
Speaking during the session, Usoro began by giving ‘The 10 Non-Exhaustive Commandments’ of Cross Examination and explained the processes involved in cross-examination using his experience on the case of the Senate President, Dr. Olubukola Saraki. “In using these commandments; you must have a strategy, you need to know the case, you must plan your cross-examination questions, you must study and know the witnesses, you must understand that friendship always works and many others”.
The Astute Litigator and Strategist went on to encourage lawyers to imbibe the act of practicing cross-examination as they can only get better by frequent practice. “Practice makes perfect. So I admonish you to always look for opportunities to cross examine and be as calm as possible during the process. Do not let any tension build up in you because that could distract you from your focus. Therefore you need to display a high level of confidence to carry on with the process”.
In conclusion, Paul Usoro showered encomium on the Executives of the NBA, Lagos Branch, led by the Chairman, Chukwuka Ikwuazom for organizing the AGM and inviting him to present a paper that speaks to his experience as a Bar man.
“I thank the executives of this prestigious branch for giving me the privilege to present this paper in our Knowledge Sharing Session on such an important topic. The session is one of the innovative ideas by the Executives who are concerned about helping lawyers in the branch to acquire and develop skills that will impact on their practice”, He said.
by Legalnaija | Jul 24, 2018 | Uncategorized
DAY 9
PUTTING YOU FIRST
PAUL USORO, SAN’S REFORM MANIFESTO FOR PRESIDENCY OF THE NBA
PROMOTION OF RULE OF LAW AND GOOD GOVERNANCE
In regard to the promotion and protection of the Rule of Law, the NBA under my leadership shall –
I. Advocate for and promote the culture of obedience to Court Orders and compliance with the principles of Rule of Law.
II. Monitor, identify and condemn cases of impunity and executive lawlessness in Nigeria and take active steps to ensure the remediation of such impunity.
III. Advocate for access to justice by facilitating pro bono and quality legal defence and representation for certifiably poor and vulnerable persons. As a corollary thereto, re-activate and upgrade the NBA Pro Bono Scheme so as to achieve the objectives for setting up the scheme.
IV. Advocate for the respect and protection of human rights of citizens and tackle gender inequalities wherever they exist or are being perpetrated.
V. Develop and advocate for programmes and projects relating to prison decongestion in Nigeria.
VI. Launch an NBA Annual Human Rights Report. This would be achieved by monitoring and documenting cases of human rights complaints and violations through NBA human rights committees at NBA branches, the media, and other human rights stakeholders. This would help us determine the frequency (increase or decrease) of human rights abuses in Nigeria.
VII. Advocate for the approval of the National Action Plan for Human Rights in Nigeria by the Federal Executive Council.
VIII. Develop and enforce procedures for swift responses to national issues and in this regard, hold monthly press briefings on national issues.
IX. Institutionalize conflict resolution, gender and peace advocacy.
X. Propose comprehensive constitutional reforms with regard to the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as amended, especially as it relates to the Judicature.
The proposed constitutional amendments would seek to:
a. Ensure the independence of the Judiciary
b. Strengthen judicial accountability and performance
c. Reform procedure of judicial recruitment and discipline
d. Enhance access to justice and the protection of the rule of law.
e. Strengthen financial autonomy of the judiciary.
XI. Advocate for the domestication and implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 at State levels in Nigeria.
XII. Develop a much improved and comprehensive Legislative Advocacy Programme for the NBA.
XIII. Champion the reform of Justice and Accountability Institutions for better service delivery.
PAUL USORO, SAN, FCIArb
by Legalnaija | Jul 24, 2018 | Uncategorized
Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has stated that the invitation to him by the Police to report to a station in Guzape over the Offa robbery investigation is a mere afterthought which is designed to achieve a political purpose.
Saraki in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, stated that he has it on good authority that the Police had already decided on the suspects to arraign in court in Ilorin, Kwara State on Wednesday based on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mohammed U.E. and that the turn around to invite him was a ploy aimed at scoring cheap political points.
“I have been reliably informed that the police invitation was planned by IG as a ploy to stop an alleged plan by some Senators and House of Representatives members from defecting from the All Progressives Congress (APC). It was also said that if I was detained between Tuesday and Wednesday, that will abort the so-called defection plan.
“While I continue to maintain that the issue of my position on the 2019 elections is not a personal decision for me alone to make, it should be noted that all these concoctions and evil plots cannot deter me. Those behind this fresh assault will fail as I have nothing to do with the robbery incident or any criminal matter for that matter.
“I am aware that following a request made by the Police on June 13, 2018 to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) of the Fedeeation had written a legal advice dated June 22, 2018, in which he stated on page 5, paragraph (f) that “For the Senate President and the Kwara State Governor, this office is unable to establish from the evidence in the interim report a nexus between the alleged office and the suspects”.
“The Police have obviously corrupted and politicized their investigations into the Offa robbery incident. They have turned it into an instrument for the party in power to suppress perceived opponents, witch hunt issue for blackmailing people from freely choosing which platform on which they want to pursue their ambitions and a matter for harassing the people whose exit from APC would harm the chances of the party in the forthcoming elections.
“I want to make it apparent that I have no hand in either the robbery incident or any criminal acitivity. The Police in their haste to embarrass me sent the invitation to me at 8pm and requested that I report to the station by 8am tomorrow morning. This obviously demonstrated their desperation as I do not see why they are now in a hurry.
“They also stated in today’s letter that because in my response of June 7, 2018 to their own letter written on June 4, 2018, I stated that I was responding simply to the contents of the letter and that the full text of the statement made by the arrested suspects which they claimed indicted me was not made available to me, they were now including the suspects statements in the current letter. Yet, instead of including the suspects’ statements, they only attached two copies of my own letter to the invitation. No suspects statement was made available.
“This plot aimed at compelling me and my associates to stay in a party where members are criminalised without just cause, where injustice is perpetrated at the highest level and where there is no respect for constitutionalism is an exercise in futility and it will fail.
“Once again, my confidence in God and our judicial system remains intact and unshaken. The truth shall also prevail in this case”, he stated.
Signed
Yusuph Olaniyonu
Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the Senate President
by Legalnaija | Jul 22, 2018 | Uncategorized
What constitutes an act of animal cruelty?
Did you know anyone found guilty of an offence of cruelty to animals is liable to 6 months imprisonment and/or a fine of 50 naira. – Section 495 Criminal Code Act
50 Naira right, that’s about 7 cents !!!!!!!! Lol
Jamb Question – Has anyone ever been prosecuted for animal cruelty in Nigeria?
#legalnaija #nigerianlaw #blawg #laws #legal #animalcruelty #animallaw #animalkingdom #crime #penalties
by Legalnaija | Jul 22, 2018 | Uncategorized
The series of unfortunate events (dearth of National cum internal security due to over concentration on Regime Security) in the past 3years in Nigeria clearly demonstrate that there is no rights to personal liberty in Nigeria. Despite the fact that the clarity of the 1999 constitution as amended on that matter is obvious to the blind-
“Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and accordingly, no person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment.” — Section 34 (1)
The Impunity of our police service especially those of the special Anti-Robbery Squad is alarming. The purpose of policing has since be altered for some evil agenda weaponized against the innocent citizenry, with an unwritten clear mandate to terrorize the youth of our nation based on recent data as mined by the #EndSARS #ReformPoliceNG Movement over one year of advocacy.
There are growing Concerns on adolescent killings across Nigeria. —
Emeka Ojinze obtained his VISA to the UAE to study alternative energy sources but was killed in the Anambra in 2017) by a Policeman seeking to extort him, He was 23.
Angela Nkechi Igwetu Corper In Abuja, with just a few hours to passing out, but was gunned down by a trigger happy Police officer. She was 23.
Richard Peter Gora was tortured to death by Policemen over a N10,000 Phone he allegedly bought in market, purported by police to have been stolen in Kaduna. He was 22.
Sofiyat Yekin, nursing mother in Bodija Ibadan, Oyo State, was gunned down by a police while displaying their show of force while intimidating innocent youth in the area for extortion. She was 23.
Final year student Salisu Haruna, plunged to his death in a well in Ekpoma Edo State, while trying to escape the religious abduction by the special anti-cultist squad (SACS) that terrorizes the hostel he visited. He wasn’t found until days later. He was 23.
Mrs Kudirat was killed by the bullet of SARS operatives showing force and high handedness while chasing young boys perceived indiscriminately by them to be yahoo boys.
There are many others shot in the head in public, and several okada riders & bus drivers killed over bribes. Studies also have shown that over 2000 persons have been killed extrajudicially in the past 10years by the police without any closure on the cases and a plethora of cases of abduction and unjust incarceration without charges running into thousands across Nigeria. Suffice to say that the abuse of human rights in Nigeria is becoming a culture.
It is helpful to think about what keeps criminals under control in our society. Ask any sane police officer globally: it is not the police and the courts who keep criminals at bay. It is the society as a whole. It is the ordinary people who call the police when they hear a problem starting. It is the ordinary people who trust the police and cooperate with them to bring criminals to justice. That public trust is held by a thin line which only works when it is backed up by the vast majority of ordinary people.
This, by the way, is why police brutality is so damaging to law and order in our society. If ordinary people lose trust in the police, they wonʼt call and they wonʼt cooperate. If they fear that calling the police to solve crime could result in their neighborsʼ kids being shot dead, they wonʼt call. And they also wonʼt cooperate in more serious cases. Without community backup, the “thin line of trust” starts to feel very thin indeed. And criminals become bolder.
Today, Citizens are violated by Police every 45minutes if not less across Nigerian major cities. Only a fraction of these human rights abuses are reported. Of the reported cases 90% border on armed robbery and kidnapping for ransom using police stations as bases or driving round in circles on our highways while inflicting horrendous physical and psychological damages to their innocent victims.
A wise man once said our adaptability can be both a blessing and a curse, a prolonged look upon wonder and abomination begins to make them mundane. The system however is not broken, it was built that way leading to the current spiraling execrable standards of the modern day when compared to what is obtainable in saner climes .
We have journeyed from domesticity to embracing primitivism under the oppression and impunity of a vile and anachronistic police system. But each time the people demand accountability, it is often met with media costuming and prevarication. They begin to mention training, addition of tags and dramatic reactions that simply moves furniture around without any definite, effective or meaningful restructuring.
A Yoruba apothegm aptly states that it is not he who was struck by a reckless driver that makes mental note of the registration number of the vehicle. Those ignorantly chanting the litotes of Police with the suggestion of reformation of SARS must understand that the culture of impunity of SARS has been ingrained in the system thus becoming a metastasized cancer which will require a total shutdown before it destroys the entire police system which can still be salvaged if we act fast enough.
In this situation where our policing system has been hijacked by ethnic brigade as balkanized, with bold unconscionable pronouncements by the police on the daily, just to maintain the status quo of the ecology of their delicate organized crime syndicate, it clearly demonstrates the ominous tragedy that lies in wait.
We must not culture cancer but ensure it is severed (EndSARS), while we intensively and surgically focus on a holistic reform of the police system (ReformPoliceNG).
A government that cannot protect the lives and properties of her citizens lacks legitimacy. As likened to a man who procures a fast horse at the expense of feeding his children…thus stripped of his income by a sane and conscious society.
In the face of overwhelming statistical evidence, There is no point disagreeing with the smallest expenditure of intelligence as the scenario playing before our very eyes have demonstrably proven to be ominous.
We must understand that the clamor, if unattended, will soon become a movement that’ll clear everything in her path!
#EndSARS #ReformPoliceNG thus has become a platform that bridges these institutional gaps through Pouring the angst of millions into a symbolic cause using engagements via art, science & technology.
The people have built a formidable united front on this regardless of their diversity across Craze, Creed, Clan or Class because based on the trajectory of events, any one could be NEXT.
We need a complete overhaul of the institution so that recommendations of reforms can be implemented. Beginning from the repeal and replacement of the Police Act 1943, (of which the Movement of the people have pushed with the compliance of the legislatives through the second reading. http://punchng.com/police-reform-bill-goes-through-second-reading-in-the-senate/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Major areas to focus is on recruitment, vetting and reverting, discipline, training, equipment, logistics, welfare, regimentation, career development, leadership, etc. The institution needs to focus on public service (demilitarization of the police and democratizing same). There must minimum acceptable standard that must be maintained professionally. Reforms take time, and there is no other option.
It is time we put premium on the lives of all Nigerians. The world’s most valuable economic resource remains Humanity. We are all a bullet away from being a Hashtag. These are humble recommendations based on the audits in the here and now rebus sic stantibus (as it stands) and anything short of this will warrant a push for a bill to arm Nigerians based on some criteria and qualifications.
These are the issues and recommendations void of the we against them game being touted by unpatriotic and dangerously arrogant, emotionally stunted, inaniloquent hirelings and felons within the police structure transfixed and flummoxed in a perpetual oxymoronic state of mind within a chaotic Game of contradiction, where faith unfaithful kept them falsely true.
Ignorance is the farm in which all forms of corruption and tyranny develop. Within it, all forms of extremism and violence are propagated.- Imam Tawhidi
First published in Nigerian Tribune online 21072018
by Legalnaija | Jul 21, 2018 | Uncategorized
The Nigerian Senate passed the Report of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) Act 2006 (amendment) Bill, 2018 (SB. 557).
The Report, which was presented by the Senate Committee on Environment, chaired by Senator Oluremi Tinubu, was read for the third time in the upper legislative chamber.
Speaking on the passage of the Bill, the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, who also served as the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology in the 7th Senate (2011 to 2015) said: “Thank you for passing this very important Bill that will go a long way in addressing oil spillages. The focus of this Bill is to ensure that we prevent, as opposed to chasing culprits after the incident has happened.
“In doing this, we will inculcate the habit of adequate prevention and control of oil spillages. This is a very good development for the environment,” the President of the Senate said.
The NOSDRA Amendment will also address any kind of restriction and ambiguity in the Agency’s mandate. This will help to ensure that there is no ambivalence in the agencies mandate.
Additionally, the NOSDRA Amendment Bill will give the agency the requisite capacity to regulate the activities of the operators as it affects the environment.
by Legalnaija | Jul 20, 2018 | Uncategorized
Welfare Programme for Lawyers
One of the topical issues in our profession today, is the poor welfare package for young lawyers and this is for understandable reasons. The demographics of lawyers shows a distantly outnumbered senior lawyers as against the growing multitude of young lawyers. Indeed, the Nigerian Law School on a yearly basis, turns out a great number of young lawyers such that, it is beginning to seem that there are more young lawyers scrambling and rushing after increasingly fewer job opportunities and spaces. With this development comes consistent complaint around poor remuneration packages translating to lower living conditions for lawyers. It is therefore imperative, urgent and critical, beyond election pitches and rhetorics, that amelioration of living conditions for young lawyers be taken seriously, by the NBA at the national level.
Another category of lawyers whose welfare I will work towards ameliorating, from a professional standpoint, is that of the aged and disabled lawyers. If I am elected as the NBA President, I will work towards achieving better welfare programmes for these categories of lawyers and generally for all lawyers through the underlisted channels, amongst others:
I. Mentorship Scheme and Capacity Building for Young Lawyers. Mentorship requires the mentee to identify a role model in the profession, preferably, a successful practitioner who will guide the mentee on the path to successful legal practice and also the ethics and traditions of the Bar and practice generally. NBA under my watch will encourage and actively facilitate such mentorship programs. A modified version of such program, as earlier mentioned, would involve periodic visits by young lawyers who are practicing in the provincial branches to structured Law Firms in the cosmopolitan cities and branches to see and learn, first-hand, law office management and the practice of law in those Law Firms. This programme will be implemented in partnership with local and international law firms, Bar Associations and Law Societies of other countries, and training consultants.
II. Employment or Job creation for lawyers. Many lawyers are finding it difficult to eke out a living and this is a worrisome trend. If I get elected President of the NBA, I would spearhead NBA’s engagement with relevant stakeholders, to identify within Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and from extant laws, those roles for which lawyers are best suited, given our training, and ensure that the legal market is protected for lawyers. I would also explore new vistas of opportunity for legal work that would result in enhanced income for lawyers and thereby improve the ability of senior lawyers and law firms to properly remunerate the young lawyers working with them.
III. As a corollary to the preceding proposition, my administration as the NBA President will check the incursion of non-lawyers, foreign lawyers and foreign law firms into the Nigerian legal practice. I do not believe that there is any aspect of legal services, including transaction and arbitral matters that we cannot find capable Nigerian lawyers to handle. There could be a limited access principle whereby foreign lawyers may be led in transactions and arbitral proceedings by Nigerian lawyers, the Nigerian lawyers being the ones to nominate, agree with and assign portions of the assignment to the foreign lawyers and firms. This could be made part of negotiations in the process of regulating access into the Nigerian legal market by foreign lawyers and firms.
IV. Aged Persons and Persons Living with Disability. Persons living with disability and the aged have special needs which unfortunately are not generally catered for in our Nigerian environment. These needs include access facilities into buildings, toilet facilities, specialized reading and legal practice materials and aids, customized technology aids and facilities. My administration as the NBA President will work at installing these facilities at the NBA Secretariat where the model law office would be located. The model law office at the National Secretariat would also be made friendly to and usable by agreed persons and persons living with disability. These facilities would gradually be expanded and provided at the NBA Zonal Offices in the 3 Zones of the NBA. We would also open dialogue with the Chief Justice of the Federation and the heads of various courts in the Federation and the States on the required modifications for making the courts and the court facilities accessible to and usable by the aged and persons living with disability.
More importantly, we shall dialogue constantly with these categories of lawyers to continually understand their needs and how best we can assist in meeting them.
V. As a corollary to the preceding proposition, we would advocate and push for diversity in the workplace, notably in law firms, in a manner that would advantage persons living with disability as well as the aged who may still be intellectually fit and can contribute to the society and the profession.
My administration, with me as the NBA President, shall actively advocate against discrimination at the workplace on grounds, amongst others, of gender, age and/or physical disability.
VI. With NBA under my watch, we shall actively develop, maintain and constantly update at the National Secretariat, a verifiable database of Nigerian lawyers who have specialized knowledge and skills in various areas of law, either through practice or by education. Such a database would come in handy not only to blunt the constant put-down by Nigerian governments and their officials against Nigerian lawyers but also to positively assist such Government Agencies and private-sector companies and individuals in identifying skilled lawyers that could assist them in handling so-called complex and “novel” transactions and matters.
VII. Business Education and Investment Planning for Lawyers. As earlier mentioned, we shall include basic business management and strategic planning, financial accounting, investment planning and opportunities modules in NBA’s Continuing Legal Education programs, all structured as part of Law Office Management courses. This will enlighten and educate lawyers on the imperative of strategic planning for sustainable law office management.
VIII. Creation of NBA Welfare Foundation or Charity Funds. Bar Associations worldwide maintain Charity or Welfare Funds that help to cushion their members and/or their families and dependents against hardship. Examples of such hardships include death in the course of NBA work, accidents and/or medical conditions that occasion disability, natural disasters, and displacements occasioned by insurgency. We shall create and maintain such NBA Welfare Foundation or Charity Funds during our administration and the funds therefor shall be sourced from extant NBA income streams, donations and through special launching events.
PAUL USORO, SAN, FCIArb
by Legalnaija | Jul 20, 2018 | Uncategorized
1. On the 6th of July 2018, President
Muhammadu Buhari signed the Presidential Executive Order No.6 for the
Preservation of Suspicious Assets connected with Corruption and other relevant
offences. By the Order the Executive Branch is empowering its agencies to
determine a suspicious assets, seize and preserve same, pending a conviction by
the court.
2. While the intention of the presidency in the
fight against corruption is commendable, the basis of the executive order
through which the presidency seek to achieve this aim is unconstitutional
because it amounts to the presidency making a law that classifies as a
subsidiary legislation and under the present constitutional ground norm in
Nigeria, the presidency cannot under the guise of an executive order usurp the
power of the legislature to make laws.
3. For the President to make any subsidiary
legislation in the country, it must first derive such power from the National
Assembly through their power of lawmaking. For the sake of emphasis Section 4(1)
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (“CFRN”) 1999 as amended provides that “The legislative powers of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be vested in the National Assembly for the
Federation which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representative.” The
power of the Executive arm of government by the tenor of Section 5(1) is to the
effect that the executive powers shall extend to the execution of this
constitution, all laws made by the national assembly and to all matters with
respect to which the national assembly has for the time being to make laws. It
is in this light that the presidency has no power to make the Executive Order
granting power to its agencies to carry out interim forfeiture of assets.
4. Furthermore under the Constitution, and our
relevant administration of criminal justice Acts and Laws to what extent does
the presidency have to order the interim or final forfeiture of assets, the
answer is in the negative. According to the Constitution in Section 44(1) “No
moveable property or any interest in an immoveable property shall be taken
compulsorily and no interest shall be acquired compulsorily in any part of
Nigeria except in the manner and for the purposes prescribed by law.
5. Lastly, in Nigeria legal jurisprudence it is
the court that has the power to order interim or final forfeiture of assets
suspected to be proceeds of corruption through laws made by the legislature and
the presidency cannot usurp such powers by making an executive order granting
it same.
By: Etiosa Ojomo Esq.
by Legalnaija | Jul 18, 2018 | Uncategorized
NBA – EASTERN BAR FORUM ADOPTION OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
The NBA National Elections are scheduled to take place this month, on 27/28 July 2018, and it has fallen on the Eastern Zone (as defined by the NBA) comprising Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Ebonyi, Abia, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Cross River States to produce the President of the Association pursuant to the NBA Constitution. For the purposes of producing its President, the NBA divides Nigeria into 3 (three) Geographical Zones – Eastern, Western and Northern Zones – and rotates the office between these 3 (three) zones. The tenure of the NBA National Officers is fixed by the Constitution at 2 years and the President sits at the apex of the National Executive Council.
There are three contestants for the office who have been cleared by the Electoral Committee of the NBA (“ECNBA”) and these, in the order of seniority both at the Bar and the Inner Bar, are Paul Usoro, SAN from Akwa Ibom State, Ernest Ojukwu, SAN from Abia State and Arthur Obi Okafor, SAN from Anambra State. The entry of Paul Usoro has caused considerable consternation in the ranks of some members of the Eastern Bar Forum (“EBF”), a voluntary grouping of lawyers, with membership drawn from the pool of lawyers who hail from and are indigenes of the NBA’s Eastern Zone.
Their contention is that there is an unwritten convention between the members of the EBF for the office of the NBA President to rotate between the South-South States in the Zone (Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River and Akwa Ibom States) and the Igbo States (Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Ebonyi and Abia States) each time that the office circles round to the Zone. They also point out that Okey Wali, SAN from Rivers State was the last occupant of the office in 2012 when the NBA President’s office rotated to the East. For the 2018 Elections, the EBF has adopted one of the 2 candidates from the Igbo States and have waged a vicious campaign against the other two and in particular, Mr. Usoro.
What the proponents of EBF rotation and adoption principles and critics of Mr. Usoro’s entry into the NBA Presidential race know but mischievously fail to point out is that:
(a) EBF and NBA Constitution. The NBA Constitution neither recognizes EBF nor its afore-stated unwritten convention; as far as the Constitution is concerned, any lawyer from the Eastern Zone is qualified to contest for the NBA President’s office when it is the turn of the Zone to produce the President. That explains the clearance of Paul Usoro by the ECNBA, alongside the other two aspirants, for the contest. Furthermore, unlike NBA, membership of EBF is not automatic or mandatory; EBF is a voluntary association of lawyers from the Eastern Zone. There is indeed a significant number of lawyers from the Zone who are not members of the EBF but are mandatorily members of the NBA. Paul Usoro is one of such NBA members who is not a member of the EBF and therefore not bound by the EBF Constitution and its unwritten conventions and practices. The secretariat of EBF confirmed membership is fewer than 400 persons, meaning more than 90% of lawyers from the former Eastern zone are not members of the EBF. This emphasizes the absurdity of such insignificant number to impose Leadership on over 160k lawyers in Nigeria.
(b) Previous NBA Presidents from Eastern Zone. Historically, the 2 (two) States of Akwa Ibom and Cross River (“Akwa-Cross”) have never produced a President of the NBA. This fact is best appreciated and understood from the historical set-up of the defunct Eastern Region of Nigeria which was made up of the former East Central State (now the Igbo States of Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Ebonyi and Abia States), the former Rivers State (now Rivers and Bayelsa States) and the defunct South-Eastern State (made up of the present Akwa Ibom and Cross River States). In that tripod which constitutes the NBA Eastern Zone, only the former South-Eastern State (qua Akwa Ibom and Cross River States) has not produced an NBA President. The former East Central State has produced 5 (five) NBA Presidents while the defunct Rivers State has produced 2 (two). The following are the NBA Presidents that have been produced by the former East Central State (now comprising the 5 (five) Igbo States):
i. Dr. Nwakama Okoro, SAN (Imo State) – 1976-1978
ii. Mr. Andrew Anyamene, SAN (Anambra State) – 1982-1984
iii. Chief (Hon) Ebele Nwokoye (Anambra State) – 1985-1987
iv. Sir Clement O Akpamgbo, SAN (Anambra State) – 1991-1992
v. Olisa Akpagoba, SAN (Anambra State) – 2006-2008
The 2 (two) occupants of the NBA President’s Office from the defunct Rivers State (now constituted into Rivers and Bayelsa States) have been:
i. O C J Okpocha, SAN (Rivers State) – 2000-2012
ii. Okey Wali, SAN (Rivers State) – 2012-2014
(c) “All-Inclusive Bar”. At a time that the Igbo States are calling for inclusive national policies and politics, the discriminatory attack on Paul Usoro is a very sad commentary on the EBF and its membership. It simply depicts the proponents of the EBF position as persons who do not believe in an all-inclusive Bar particularly where such inclusiveness favors the minority States of Akwa Ibom and Cross River States. Instead of accommodating the yearnings of Akwa-Cross for inclusion, the EBF apparatchik have resorted to blackmailing, browbeating and name-calling Mr. Usoro and his supporters, all in an effort to intimidate him out of the race. Even with Mr. Usoro as the President of the NBA in 2018, the Igbo States would still produce, in the aggregate and historically, the highest number of NBA Presidents of Eastern Zone origin viz-a-viz the minority States of the Zone.
(d) NBA Constitution. On the issue of rotation, the NBA Constitution admonishes that “where a position is zoned to any particular geographical zone, the position shall be rotated and held in turn by the different groups and/or sections in the geographical zone”. This provision clearly favors Akwa-Cross States that have never produced an NBA President in the history of the Association particularly considering the historical tripod that makes up the NBA’s Eastern Zone. It would perhaps have been a different situation if no candidate emerged from Akwa-Cross or if the minority States of the East had, in the aggregate produced as much number of NBA Presidents as the Igbo States.
(e) Doubtful EBF Unwritten Convention. The so-called EBF unwritten convention of rotation and adoption of candidates is of doubtful existence. In 2006, Chris Uche, SAN from Abia State contested against Olisa Agbakoba, SAN from Anambra State and Funke Adekoya, SAN from the Western zone for the NBA President’s office. When Okey Wali, SAN contested for the Presidency of the NBA in 2012, Emeka Ngige, SAN from Anambra State contested against him and almost won that election. Even in this 2018 Elections, until the recent disqualification of Afam Osigwue from Anambra State by the ECNBA, there were two other aspirants for the NBA President’s office, apart from Mr. Usoro. Currently, there are two Senior Advocates of Nigeria from the Igbo States who are contesting for the office with Mr. Usoro notwithstanding the so-called EBF adoption of one of them.
(f) “Shoo-in” President. EBF rotation and adoption principles eliminate contest and deprive NBA members of choices and in the process makes a complete mockery of the election concept. As earlier mentioned, the EBF has adopted one of the 3 (three) contestants for the office of the NBAS President and has written to all the other NBA Zones and regional groupings to follow suit and adopt its anointed candidate. On this account, the EBF and its members have waged a vicious and relentless campaign mostly against Mr Usoro for daring to contest the office. The EBF in the process arrogates to itself the right to make a choice of the NBA President for the entire NBA electorate made up of 3 NBA Zones holding all together over 30,000 lawyers/members. With the greatest respect, that is very arrogant and presumptuous of the NBA apart from being anti-democratic, wholly unfair and contrary to all known principles of equity and good conscience. Little wonder that the EBF adoption has been rejected by other regional fora and groups.
(g) Professionalism and Competence. One would have thought that the EBF which purports to be a regional grouping of lawyers, would extol competition amongst qualified lawyers from the Eastern Zone for election as President of the NBA and lay emphasis on professionalism and competence as the most critical qualifications therefor. In that regard, it bears pointing out that no one has suggested, even remotely, that Mr. Usoro is not vested with the skills, competence, sagacity and God-endowed wisdom to pilot the affairs of the NBA as its President. Indeed, everyone including the EBF proponents are agreed that he is amply endowed in that regard and would, as President of the NBA, make the Association very proud, not least, the EBF and its members.
(h) Seniority at the Bar. The legal profession lays emphasis on seniority and Mr. Usoro is older in all respects – biological age, age at the Bar and age in the Inner Bar – than the other 2 (two) aspirants for the NBA President’s office. Clearly, by the culture of the Bar, he should take precedent over the other two in all respects.
These facts fully rebut the ongoing vicious campaign against Mr. Usoro’s candidacy for the NBA President based solely on the purported EBF unwritten policy of rotational adoption of Presidential candidates. Happily, the ECNBA has not pandered to the EBF in that regard. By clearing Mr. Usoro for the elections, the ECNBA is setting a standard in the conduct of competitive elections that lays emphasis on the quality of the candidates and the presentation of credible choices to its electorate.
Chinyere Chukwu
by Legalnaija | Jul 18, 2018 | Uncategorized
HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT AND WELFARE PROGRAMMES
The pride of a lawyer, in-house or in private practice, is in the application of his skills, knowledge and workmanship for the promotion of the rule of law, attainment of justice and protection of his client, followed by the attendant economic reward and benefits. This underscores the importance of knowledge, skills and human capital development. My plan therefore is to foster that pride by lawyers in the legal profession, irrespective of their mode of practice, livelihood and legal career, using the instrumentality of the NBA.
A. An All-Inclusive Bar
Nigeria boasts of a sizeable number of lawyers even as more lawyers are passing out of the Nigerian Law School every year. However, not many lawyers participate in NBA activities partly because emphasis seems to be placed by the NBA more on the lawyers who are in active private legal practice.
Hence, corporate/in-house counsel, lawyers living with disabilities, public sector lawyers (mostly in civil service and government parastatals) and female lawyers, are generally not given the opportunity to participate in nor encouraged to attend NBA activities and as a result, they do not derive or even see any membership benefits from these activities. It is my candid view that every lawyer and member of the NBA should identify with the Association and derive some benefit therefrom.
One of the ways to sustain the interests of our members in these different lawyer-groupings is to address issues directly affecting them. If I get elected President, the NBA would offer a clear value proposition for the inculcation of an inclusive bar to our members, be they in private legal practice or not. I am indeed for and will champion the entrenchment of such an inclusive bar.
There is no reason why corporate counsel, for example, cannot take up appointments or membership in NBA Committees (at both National and Branch levels) provided they are available and committed to the course for which such NBA Committees or offices are set up. Some groupings of lawyers have historically been short-changed in these appointments even though they have eminently qualified persons amongst them who can occupy these positions and acquit themselves very well. If I am elected as President of the NBA, I will address that imbalance.
PAUL USORO, SAN, FCIArb
