Mr. Steve Sun has among other things replied Sylvester Udemezue
on his rejoinder to the observations raised concerning the high
level of pass rate recorded in the just-released bar finals
result.
Steve in his response made available to The Nigerialawyer (TNL)
said he will not be pressing further on the issue due to the fact
that he has retired from activism.
Read below his response.
Reply to Mr. Udemezue..
I came across your open letter to me, courtesy of
Nairalaw blog.
I commend you for your candour and industry, despite the bitter
tone thereof. It must have taken you a whole day to come up with
that very lengthy epistle.
When Mrs. Adegoke taught us LDC at Bwari, she warned us to
always refrain from verbosity. She told us that we must unlearn the
university notion of writing lengthy epistles in order to impress
examiners.
On his own part, Mr. Okorie who taught us Civil Procedure,
charged us to always make our essays as captivating as a lady’s
miniskirt; short enough to be attractive and long enough to cover
the subject matter. I guess he was the one who invented that
phrase.
I wouldn’t know who taught you in your own time, neither would i
know what you teach your students these days.
As for telling me that the current NBA President is the acting
Chairman of the CLE, i’m not quite sure as to the exact message you
seek to put across.
For your information sir, i would’ve joined Mazi Obioma
Ezenwobodo et al in calling for Mr. Paul Usoro(SAN) to step aside
but i personally do not recognize him as the NBA President and so i
cannot be asking him to divest himself of what i do not recognize
him as possessing.
Recognizing him as the NBA President would come at the
conclusion of the suit filed by Chief Arthur Obi Okafor SAN at the
FCT High Court, if it goes in his favour.
And so, my dear brother, calling on the NBA General-Secretary to
request for clarifications, while sidestepping your Acting CLE
Chairman was a deliberate act on my part and not an oversight as
you erroneously assumed.
In summary, it is a pity that your rejoinder came at a time when
i had already retired from activism (may i humbly refer you to my
latest facebook post titled “EPILOGUE”.)
Assuming i wasn’t retired, i can assure you that i would mount
pressure on the General-Secretary and other Bar elders & leaders to
follow up on the request for clarifications. And if they turn a
blind eye to it, i would’ve proceeded with a Freedom of Information
action to compel the CLE-NLS to make a full disclosure of all the
facts surrounding the exams and the results.
Mind you that Section 1(2) of the Freedom of Information Act
2011 specifically provides that in requesting for information, you
need not even show any specific interest in the said information
and the institution involved is under obligation to furnish you
with the said information.
But like i said, i have retired from activism.
The ball is in the court of the NBA. If they like, they can seek
for clarifications, if they like they can look the other way. I’m
not interested.
But thanks to my post, some comments have been quite helpful in
solving the mystery.
For instance, someone said that he has seen the question papers and
that the questions were too cheap compared to previous years.
Another person suggested that a circular by the NUC on grading
was also to blame.
But like i also said in my epilogue, sometimes an inferno may
seem to have been caused by an accident, but when properly
investigated by a self-respecting Insurance Company, it would turn
out to be premeditated arson.
So it’s very possible that there could be many revelations
assuming an independent inquiry is conducted into this
unprecedented mystery.
But like i said, i don’t really care anymore.
Thanks and God bless.
Steve Sun.