Mr. Mela Audu Nunghe, a former chairman of the
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Abuja branch, has been appointed
chairman of the Board of the International Trade Fair Complex,
Lagos. In this interview with Legal Editor JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU,
he bares his mind on the forthcoming NBA elections, the crisis in
Abuja branch, the resurrection of the Trade Fair Complex and sundry
national issues.
The Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) will elect new officers in
July. What are your expectations?
My advice to the Bar is that they must avoid any pitfall that
will lead us to any crisis. There should be no godfatherism in
professional associations, like that of the NBA. Anybody who feels
that he is qualified to lead the association should present
himself. They should not use religion or any form of divisive
tactics to divide the association. Merit should be the yardstick.
The Bar association has no religion, no tribe. The Bar association
is a collection of lawyers who are bound together by that calling
of being lawyers. That is one of the reasons why I like the
military. When an officer is due for promotion, even if he is from
the same house with the last general, he will be promoted
accordingly because he deserves it. That should be the practice
within the NBA and we should also remember that as a democracy,
other people are watching us . We must be very careful because we
are being watched by other associations to set the pace. So, I wish
the Eastern Bar Forum who are supposed to produce the next NBA
President and all the aspirants the best of luck.
Why is the Abuja branch of the NBA still
divided?
The Elders Committee of the Bar have tried and they have not
come out of this situation. I think that there has to be one
drastic and if possible an action that should bar all those who are
causing this crises in Abuja branch. They should be suspended until
we attain stability, so if I have been in the centre of the crises,
for God’s sake, for the sake of the association, I should be barred
at least for two years or more until we have a stable association.
Then they should be careful on who they appoint to conduct
elections because some of them have their own candidates and when
they come to conduct elections, they do everything possible to put
their candidates in office. Why then do you think the scale
of justice Ibi Jus ibi remedium does not have a
head or where it has one, the face is covered? It is because the
law does not know anybody’s face. Law must operate for the
existence of good society, so when you bring somebody who has
interest in Mr. X and everything he does is tilted towards wanting
Mr. X to win it wont work because the moment other contestants see
that there is no transparency, they will revolt.
What do you make of Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN)
lawsuit over last election?
The matter is in court. It is a matter of common knowledge, some
people are blaming why the other candidate should go to court. But
it is his right, that is the most civilised way to seek redress. I
do not see why anybody will begin to blame him for going to court
to ventilate his grievances. It is the most civilised way to seek
redress. Do you expect him to mobilise some young men, give
them money and let them be causing commotion every time the
NBA is meeting? It shouldn’t be, so we should commend
his courage for taking legal steps to challenge whatever he thinks
is wrong. At the end of the day, whatever the court says, even he
himself will be bound whether he likes it or not.
You ran for the House of Representatives
under the Congress for Progressive Change ( CPC). What is
your next political move?
Well, once you start a race, you will like to complete it at any
time in your life. The developments in the system since then have
been great because from CPC, we have APC which is the ruling party.
There are so many things that one has to be very careful in looking
at but I do really want to represent my people at any given point.
I can’t say with certainty what is going to happen, everything lies
with God. If I am contesting for a position and I see a more
credible candidate than myself, not because of ego, I will support
him. If I trust you so much and you have such credibility that I
believe that you can deliver more than me, I will give way
for you. It is not life’s struggle that you must be there, after
all you gain power only if God wills. No matter what you think
about yourself, unless God wills, you cannot get into any
position.
How have your representatives fared?
I desire to represent my people and I believe that I will give
them better representation than all the members of the House
of Representatives that have come from my place. I know that none
of them talks. None of them has either moved a
motion or led a debate on any issue because of their
backgrounds and because they were not supposed to be there. But,
for one reason or the other, they are there. Most of those who came
to represent Bilri Balanga, Gombe State, if you count them, you
will find out that none of them except the late Idris Abubakar who
was in the Senate and late Tawari Umbis Wada who
incidentally were both lawyers, we never had such robust
representation from any of our people in the House of
Representatives. They were the ones who made us proud and
gave our people robust representation in the National
Assembly. Because they were articulate, they understood the issues,
they understood what the responsibilities and the duties of
legislation entailed and they did it with all their might
unfortunately, they were not able to live longer than the day they
left.
You chair the Lagos International Trade Fair complex
board. How do you feel?
I thank God for the appointment and I will like to use this
opportunity to thank President Muhammadu Buhari for finding me
worthy among millions of Nigerians to be appointed to this
position. I didn’t expect it but I know that somebody somewhere
know that I deserve it, that is why I give God all the glory,
because God uses people. It came to me as a surprise and when I
find myself in situations like that, I brace up to the
responsibility. So, one of the first things I did when I saw the
appointment was to pull out the Act to understand the enormity of
the responsibility before I started getting feelers and information
about what the Lagos International Trade Fair is all about. I saw
that it is a place that is needing attention. I said whatever it
is, I trust God to help me to make a mark and do something that
will stand the test of time.
Have you visited the complex?
We were inaugurated on March 1. Before I visited the Trade Fair
complex, I thought that it was wise to consult with the relevant
government agencies. I thank the Ministers of Trade and Investment
for giving me audience. I consulted with them. I had the
privilege of consulting with the Director-General of the Bureau for
Public Enterprises ( BPE), the Solicitor General of the Federation
and the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. I consulted them
and other agencies, so we can put our heads together to carry out
the mandate. Having done that, I visited the complex. The purpose
was to have the inaugural meeting of the board, which to took place
on April 13. Along with other members of the board we took a tour
of the complex. It is such a sad story. You will be excited coming
to that place but you will leave that place very sad.
Why?
Because it is wealth lying fallow. It is a gold mine that is
abandoned untapped. Some people call it a dead cow, others call it
a monumental waste. How to move from there to restore life to that
place is what no one person can do. Not even the board alone
can do it, so it has to take the collective efforts of the
management, the board, the relevant Ministries and agencies to see
that this place is transformed to a national pride. I do appreciate
the enormity of the other agencies like the Tafawa Balewa Square
(TBS), the National Theatre and so on but since this is my own
area, let me concentrate on that and see how collectively together
we can fall in to make it a viable project for the Federal
Government. I do know that there is a National Council on
Privitasitaion which is the body that is saddled with the
responsibility to concession or privatise most of these government
agencies. We would work closely with them and the BPE to see how
the Trade Fair Complex is revived without necessarily falling into
the same trap that happened the last time an attempt was made to
concession it. We are ready to support government policies, steps
and initiatives to seeing that the Lagos International Trade Fair
Complex is once more in the limelight, and becomes a national and
international center that will attract the cream of business
globally for commercial activities.
Culled TheNation
Mr. Mela Audu Nunghe, a former chairman of the
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Abuja branch, has been appointed
chairman of the Board of the International Trade Fair Complex,
Lagos. In this interview with Legal Editor JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU,
he bares his mind on the forthcoming NBA elections, the crisis in
Abuja branch, the resurrection of the Trade Fair Complex and sundry
national issues.
The Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) will elect new officers in
July. What are your expectations?
My advice to the Bar is that they must avoid any pitfall that
will lead us to any crisis. There should be no godfatherism in
professional associations, like that of the NBA. Anybody who feels
that he is qualified to lead the association should present
himself. They should not use religion or any form of divisive
tactics to divide the association. Merit should be the yardstick.
The Bar association has no religion, no tribe. The Bar association
is a collection of lawyers who are bound together by that calling
of being lawyers. That is one of the reasons why I like the
military. When an officer is due for promotion, even if he is from
the same house with the last general, he will be promoted
accordingly because he deserves it. That should be the practice
within the NBA and we should also remember that as a democracy,
other people are watching us . We must be very careful because we
are being watched by other associations to set the pace. So, I wish
the Eastern Bar Forum who are supposed to produce the next NBA
President and all the aspirants the best of luck.
Why is the Abuja branch of the NBA still
divided?
The Elders Committee of the Bar have tried and they have not
come out of this situation. I think that there has to be one
drastic and if possible an action that should bar all those who are
causing this crises in Abuja branch. They should be suspended until
we attain stability, so if I have been in the centre of the crises,
for God’s sake, for the sake of the association, I should be barred
at least for two years or more until we have a stable association.
Then they should be careful on who they appoint to conduct
elections because some of them have their own candidates and when
they come to conduct elections, they do everything possible to put
their candidates in office. Why then do you think the scale
of justice Ibi Jus ibi remedium does not have a
head or where it has one, the face is covered? It is because the
law does not know anybody’s face. Law must operate for the
existence of good society, so when you bring somebody who has
interest in Mr. X and everything he does is tilted towards wanting
Mr. X to win it wont work because the moment other contestants see
that there is no transparency, they will revolt.
What do you make of Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN)
lawsuit over last election?
The matter is in court. It is a matter of common knowledge, some
people are blaming why the other candidate should go to court. But
it is his right, that is the most civilised way to seek redress. I
do not see why anybody will begin to blame him for going to court
to ventilate his grievances. It is the most civilised way to seek
redress. Do you expect him to mobilise some young men, give
them money and let them be causing commotion every time the
NBA is meeting? It shouldn’t be, so we should commend
his courage for taking legal steps to challenge whatever he thinks
is wrong. At the end of the day, whatever the court says, even he
himself will be bound whether he likes it or not.
You ran for the House of Representatives
under the Congress for Progressive Change ( CPC). What is
your next political move?
Well, once you start a race, you will like to complete it at any
time in your life. The developments in the system since then have
been great because from CPC, we have APC which is the ruling party.
There are so many things that one has to be very careful in looking
at but I do really want to represent my people at any given point.
I can’t say with certainty what is going to happen, everything lies
with God. If I am contesting for a position and I see a more
credible candidate than myself, not because of ego, I will support
him. If I trust you so much and you have such credibility that I
believe that you can deliver more than me, I will give way
for you. It is not life’s struggle that you must be there, after
all you gain power only if God wills. No matter what you think
about yourself, unless God wills, you cannot get into any
position.
How have your representatives fared?
I desire to represent my people and I believe that I will give
them better representation than all the members of the House
of Representatives that have come from my place. I know that none
of them talks. None of them has either moved a
motion or led a debate on any issue because of their
backgrounds and because they were not supposed to be there. But,
for one reason or the other, they are there. Most of those who came
to represent Bilri Balanga, Gombe State, if you count them, you
will find out that none of them except the late Idris Abubakar who
was in the Senate and late Tawari Umbis Wada who
incidentally were both lawyers, we never had such robust
representation from any of our people in the House of
Representatives. They were the ones who made us proud and
gave our people robust representation in the National
Assembly. Because they were articulate, they understood the issues,
they understood what the responsibilities and the duties of
legislation entailed and they did it with all their might
unfortunately, they were not able to live longer than the day they
left.
You chair the Lagos International Trade Fair complex
board. How do you feel?
I thank God for the appointment and I will like to use this
opportunity to thank President Muhammadu Buhari for finding me
worthy among millions of Nigerians to be appointed to this
position. I didn’t expect it but I know that somebody somewhere
know that I deserve it, that is why I give God all the glory,
because God uses people. It came to me as a surprise and when I
find myself in situations like that, I brace up to the
responsibility. So, one of the first things I did when I saw the
appointment was to pull out the Act to understand the enormity of
the responsibility before I started getting feelers and information
about what the Lagos International Trade Fair is all about. I saw
that it is a place that is needing attention. I said whatever it
is, I trust God to help me to make a mark and do something that
will stand the test of time.
Have you visited the complex?
We were inaugurated on March 1. Before I visited the Trade Fair
complex, I thought that it was wise to consult with the relevant
government agencies. I thank the Ministers of Trade and Investment
for giving me audience. I consulted with them. I had the
privilege of consulting with the Director-General of the Bureau for
Public Enterprises ( BPE), the Solicitor General of the Federation
and the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. I consulted them
and other agencies, so we can put our heads together to carry out
the mandate. Having done that, I visited the complex. The purpose
was to have the inaugural meeting of the board, which to took place
on April 13. Along with other members of the board we took a tour
of the complex. It is such a sad story. You will be excited coming
to that place but you will leave that place very sad.
Why?
Because it is wealth lying fallow. It is a gold mine that is
abandoned untapped. Some people call it a dead cow, others call it
a monumental waste. How to move from there to restore life to that
place is what no one person can do. Not even the board alone
can do it, so it has to take the collective efforts of the
management, the board, the relevant Ministries and agencies to see
that this place is transformed to a national pride. I do appreciate
the enormity of the other agencies like the Tafawa Balewa Square
(TBS), the National Theatre and so on but since this is my own
area, let me concentrate on that and see how collectively together
we can fall in to make it a viable project for the Federal
Government. I do know that there is a National Council on
Privitasitaion which is the body that is saddled with the
responsibility to concession or privatise most of these government
agencies. We would work closely with them and the BPE to see how
the Trade Fair Complex is revived without necessarily falling into
the same trap that happened the last time an attempt was made to
concession it. We are ready to support government policies, steps
and initiatives to seeing that the Lagos International Trade Fair
Complex is once more in the limelight, and becomes a national and
international center that will attract the cream of business
globally for commercial activities.
Culled TheNation
Read more https://nairalaw.com/wanted-level-playing-field-in-nba-election/