NBA Lagos Elections: As The Premier Goes To Poll By Abdulrasheed Ibrahim

Going by the election guidelines released by the NBA Lagos
Electoral Committee under the Chairmanship of Mr. Ayodele
Akintunde, SAN, the NBA Lagos is going to poll on 28th June 2019 to
elect new Executives that will steer the affairs of the Premier
branch for another two years as the incumbent regime under the
Chairmanship of Mr. Chukwuka Ikwuazom is gradually coming to an
end. From what is presently on the ground, the election is going to
be very interesting. The lawyers who are interested in taking part
in the electoral race have obtained and submitted nomination forms
to the Electoral Committee which fixed 20th May 2019 as deadline
for the submission of nomination forms.

According to the Electoral Committee, the elections will be
conducted electronically. The social media is now playing big role
in the campaigns by the aspirants who have been going about
soliciting for the votes of members of the branch. From the
available information ,three (3) candidates who have stepped
forward to contest for the position of CHAIRMAN are Adebola
Olarotimi Lema, Bolatumi Animashaun and Omoyemi Akangbe; for the
position of VICE CHAIRMAN are Chuks Nwana, Bode Omoboriowo and Okey
Ilofulunwa; for the position of SECRETARY are Tochukwu
Chukwumerije, Moshood Abiola and Obinna Okereke; for TREASURER is
Foluke Olamiposi Akinmoladun; for FINANCIAL SECRETARY, I have not
seen anyone showing interest; SOCIAL SECRETARY are Ayo-Ponle
Adefowoke Olubusola and Gloria Egeonu; WELFARE SECRETARY is
Anthonia Enitan Eke; for PUBLICITY SECRETARY ,I have not seen
anyone showing interest ; for LEGAL ADVISER are Dumgbara Nda Smart
Torbari, Ihesiulo Marcus Ebenezer and Harry O. Ukaeji-Ofor; for
PROVOST is Florence Ekwutosi Chijioke –Duru while Ifeoma Cathrine
Ben.and Hammed Bakare.are vying for the position of ASSISTANT
SECRETARY.As at the time of publishing this write up ,I have also
not seen candidates vying for the position of the two NEC
representatives reserve for the past Chairmen and Vice
Chairmen.

The above mentioned aspirants are as seen on the social media
declaring their interests in the race.Those that will actually run
the race are those that eventually scale through the screening of
the Electoral Committee when it brings out the final list of the
successful candidates that are eligible to contest. From all
indication, the positions of CHAIRMAN, VICE CHAIRMAN, SECRETARY and
LEGAL ADVISER are going to be keenly contested as three (3)
candidates are contesting for each of these positions. The position
of the Chairman is going to be the greatest race of all as the
three contestants are serious determined to take the Premier’s
Throne. The three (3) contestants vying for the position of
CHAIRMAN are all very formidable but from the opinion poll being
conducted LEMA seems to be in the lead ahead of other two
contenders who can equally not be underestimated in the race. LEMA
has been seen by many lawyers as a Bar Politician who for some time
now has established himself as a “Kingmaker” within the Premier
Branch and was deeply involved in installing some Chairmen in the
branch. Lema’s decision to run the race for the Premiership Throne
has been seen by some as a Kingmaker aspiring to be the King.

When Kaduna’s El-Rufai decided to write his autobiography, he
referred to himself as an “Accidental Public Servant”, and as if to
borrow leave from El-Rufai’s book title, Lema also once referred to
himself as “Accidental Secretary of the Premier Branch”. How did
this happen? When the late Babatola Apata died in active service to
the bar in 2014, the position of General Secretary of the branch
became vacant for a bye election. Lema was one of the contenders
that came out to run in that election which I later captured in THE
BRIEFCASE, a Newsletter I ran during my tenure as Publicity
Secretary of the branch as follows:

“Mr. Adebola O. Lema is now the Secretary-General of the
Nigerian Bar Association, Lagos (Premier) Branch having won the
bye-election conducted on 9th June 2014. The other two candidates
who earlier showed interest in the race for succession were Mr.
Bode Omoboriowo and Mrs. Obele Akinniranye. But in what some people
perceived as the conspiracy of the men folk against the women folk
(don’t mind the saying that there is no lady in the profession)
Omoboriowo stepped down for Lema to battle the contest with
Akinniranye who actually gave a very good fight. In the result
eventually announced by the Premier’s Jega in person of Ayodele
Akintunde, Esq. , Akinniranye scored 75 votes, while Lema scored 89
votes to emerge the winner of the bye-election. One was highly
impressed by the maturity and sense of sportsmanship displayed by
the two contenders as they both shook hands and embraced each other
upon declaration of the result. While welcoming Mr. Lema on board,
we urge him to do everything possible to justify the confidence
repose in him by the branch members.”

The similarity of the above narrative with the forthcoming 2019
NBA Lagos Elections is that an “Iron Lady” is equally involved this
time around in the midst of two gentlemen. Bolatumi Animashaun, the
incumbent Vice Chairman has come out to dare the duo of Adebola
Olarotimi Lema and Omoyemi Akangbe for the position of Chairman.
Animashaun is in the race to prove the point that: “what men can
do, women can do better”. The last time a lady courageously ran the
race for the NBA Lagos Chairmanship was when Toyin Basorun ran
against Taiwo Taiwo. From the present situation on the ground and
looking at the determination of the three contenders the “Men
folk’s conspiracy against Women folk ” may not work this time round
as the likelihood of any candidate for the position of the Chairman
stepping down for another is very thin except miracle happens at
the eleventh hour. While Lema and Animashaun may have been old
horses in the NBA Lagos electoral races, another candidate that
should not be underrated in the forthcoming race is Omoyemi Akangbe
who perhaps is joining the electoral race for the first time.

The campaign for the election is becoming more interesting day
by day as the candidates for the various positions are now rolling
out their agendas for the premier branch. In NBA politics, I can
say without fear of any contradiction that the only agenda that can
fly is that of the Chairman at the Branch level and that of the
President at the National level except the Chairman or President
exercises his discretion to buy into the agenda of any executive
member. In reality, the NBA politics is all about the tyranny of
minority. Analyzing the agenda of other vying for other executive
positions rather than that of those vying for Chairmanship is
nothing but a waste of time. In rolling out his agenda, Lema has
made an undertaking “to consolidate and improve on all the good
initiatives of the past administration to deliver a branch of our
dreams”. He has promised further that his tenure will focus on
Welfare; Continuing Legal Education (CLE); Public Interest and
Protection of Human Rights; Bar, Bench and Legislature’s
Relationship; Bridging the Gulf in the Relationship between the
National and the Branch; Young Lawyers’ Forum (YLF) and NBA Lagos
Bar Centre.I once saw Lema reading the book titled: “From Third
World to First” written by the great late Singapore Leader, Lee
Kuan Yew who led his country independence from Malaysia to become
one of the rare developed countries within a very short time in the
world today. The Lema’s agenda and its fulfillment to the letter
would surely prove to us how much he has learnt from Lee Kuan Yew‘s
Singapore Phenomenon. With all his promises, will Lema prove to be
the Premier Bar’s Lee Kuan Yew?

Omoyemi Akangbe has also released what he called the 8 Visions
that include ; Creation of Career Development Centre; Enhancement
of CLE and Mentorship Initiative; Law Firm Mentorship Initiave ;
Engaging Consultants on Practice Structuring; Health Insurance
Scheme; More Effective and Efficient Judiciary; Clear Agenda for
Young Lawyers and Effective Secretariat According to Akangbe on
Judiciary: “ we will immediately constitute a Judiciary Relations
Committee that will be made up of respected members of the Bar .The
focus of this group would be to improve dialogue with the bench
with a view to achieving efficient and effective service delivery
on both sides. Specific attention will be paid to issue such as
optimal case and time management via effective case scheduling and
the adoption of a functional electronic cause list system all of
which will be geared towards increasing the productivity of Lawyers
and Judges and ultimately facilitating the speedy dispensation of
Justice.” While I have not seen much difference on the agenda being
presented by Lema and Akangbe, am yet to see the Animashaun’s
agenda as at the time of prepare this write up except her profile
as published by her with the caption: “Vote experience, vote
continuity, commitment, passion & action”. Her profile is as be
brilliant as the other two contenders. One thing we must all
appreciate is the high level of maturity being displayed by these
three contenders for the position of Chairman. Candidates for other
positions are equally living up to expectation. This is an
electoral race that must be run with the spirit of sportsmanship as
all attentions are now focused on the Premier Branch on how the
poll will go.

SOUTH AFRICA: WELCOMING PRESIDENT CYRIL
RAMAPHOSA

Last week, I wrote about some African Dictators who have refused
to embrace true democracy in their countries. South Africa by
swearing in on 25th May 2019 Cyril Ramaphosa as her fourth newly
elected President after the Apartheid has pledged commitment to the
spirit of democracy in that country. Although Ramaphosa may not be
a stranger to the South Africa’s Presidency, as took he over from
President Jacob Zuma after stepping down from power. The victory of
African National Congress (ANC) in the just concluded election has
made him to retain the power as President of the country.According
Ramaphosa after being sworn in:

“ Today our nation enters a new era of hope and renewal…The
challenges of our country faces are huge and are real but they are
not insurmountable .They can be solved and I stand here to say they
are going to be solved.”

One of the problems that Ramaphosa must find a total solution to
is that of some South African youths engaging in the madness of
XENOPHOBIA. When they launched the attack sometime in 2015, I wrote
in THE BRIEFCASE as follows:

“Not so long some youths in some part of South Africa engaged in
what has become to be known as XENOPHOBIA meaning: ‘Irrational
hatred or fear of strangers or foreigners’. The objects of this
attack by the said youths are black Africans like themselves but
who are from other African countries and Nigeria inclusive. The
display of the madness was said to have been inspired by a
controversial statement attributed to the King of Zulu who has seen
the foreigners in their country as lice that must be removed from
their heads.They not only inflicted body injuries on their victims,
the said youths on rampage also looted shops and carted away
properties belonging to those people they believed have come to
take over the jobs that belong to them.They even killed.These youth
have learnt nothing from the legacy of that great lawyer,Nelson
Mandela who despite all he went through in the hands of apartheid
regime never took any pound of flesh when he eventually emerged to
lead the country as its President.The xenophobia recently inflicted
in South Africa on foreigners particularly Nigerian people to say
the least is irresponsible.Despite the involvement of the Nigeria
as a country in the struggle to liberate the South African people
from the Apartheid regime which eventually yielded positive
result.For the citizens of South Africa to now turn against the
citizens of those countries that helped and assisted them is
nothing but an ingrate of the highest order.Another lesson for us
to learn from the incident is that there is no place like one’s
home,but the facts still remain that if the government of the
various countries have created enabling environment for their
citizenry there would not be any need for the citizens trooping to
other countries searching for greener pasture.

With the promises made by Cyril Ramaphosa after being sworn in,
one hopes that he will be bold and kind enough to call those South
African youths to order to desist from such wicked act of
Xenophobia.

REMARKABLE PRONOUNCEMENT ON COURT AND POLITICAL
PARTIES

“The matter in controversy in the appeal is whether a court has
jurisdiction to entertain a claim whereby it can compel a political
party to sponsor one candidate in preference for another candidate
of the self same political party. If a court could do this, it
would in effect be managing the political party for the members
thereof. The issue of who should be a candidate of a given
political party at any election is clearly a political one to be
determined by the rules and constitution of the said party. It is
thus a domestic issue and not such as would be justifiable in a
court of law.”

Per IRIKEFE, JSC (as he then was) in Onuoha Vs. Okafor &
Ors. (1983) 14 NSCC 494

THE SETTLED PRINCIPLE OF LAW

On meaning of the word “election”

“It is trite law that the concept of election denotes a process
constituting accreditation, voting, collation, recording on all
relevant INEC forms and declaration of results. The collation of
all results of the polling units making up the wards and
declaration of results are therefore constituent elements of an
election as know to law. “

See Igodo Vs. Owulo (1999) 5 NWLR (Pt. 601) 70 Pgs. 77-79; INEC
Vs. RAY (2004) 14 NWLR (Pt. 892) Pg.123 Paras G-H; (2005) ALL FWLR
(Pt. 265) Pg. 1071 Paras H-A

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26th May 2019

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