Minding my beer time, 17:59; actually on days like this Tuesday when my wife has travelled, St. James Gate, is my favorite; my phone beeped.
Che, NBA don start again. Have you heard that JK Gadzama SAN has dropped a bomb.
I know JK owns a chatter airline services and not a fighter jet or B52 Bomber. He is from Boko Haram ravaged Borno. This bomb analogy took me to surfing the net.
The bomb is, JK wrote Body of Benchers vide J-K/ABJ/TS/RFL/01/23, still insisting that the 2022 NBA Presidential Election he lost to YC Maikyau SAN, was “Susceptible To Fraud, Manipulation, Rigging And Pre-Programing of Votes.”
The letter would have been dismissed as a ranting of a sour loser but for the beef between NBA and Body Of Benchers, over NBA’s call for BoB’s Chairman, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN to rescue himself over allegations of professional misconduct against his law firm and a partner in his firm.
Despite the mischievous interpretation of the resurrection of JK’s grievances against the election conducted last year, the nagging question is, does BoB have powers over NBA affairs?
A little digging reveals POWER OF BODY OF BENCHERS VIS-À-VIS NIGERIA BAR ASSOCIATION.
By provision of Section 3(1)(k) of the Legal Practitioners Act, thirty legal practitioners shall be nominated to the Body of Benchers by the Nigerian Bar Association.
No other body or Association has power to nominate any of these thirty members other than the NBA. In fact Section 24 of the LPA reinforces this by defining “Association” as the Nigerian Bar Association;
3.-(1)There shall be a body of legal practitioners of the highest distinction in the legal profession in Nigeria to be known as the “The Body of Benchers” which shall be responsible for performing the functions and duties imposed upon it under this Act and which shall consist of the following members…
10.-(1) The Body of Benchers shall be responsible for-
(a) the formal call to the Bar of persons seeking to become legal practitioners in Nigeria;
(b) the exercise of disciplinary jurisdiction over members of the legal profession and over students seeking to become legal practitioners;
(c) taking all measures (whether by making regulations pursuant to the powers conferred on it by this section or otherwise howsoever) which appear to it to be necessary or expedient for maintaining at all times the traditional values of the legal profession; and
(d) prescribing fees to be paid by legal practitioners pursuant to the provisions of this Act after consultation with the Association.
(2)Notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution of the Association, the Body of Benchers shall have and may exercise any or all the powers specified in subsection (3) of this section whenever – (a) the term of office of the officers or the elected members of the National Executive Committee of the Association has expired and it is impossible for the Association to hold the necessary elections for a period exceeding 30 days thereafter; or (b)the Body of Benchers is satisfied that by reason of dispute among the members of National Executive Committee of the Association, it is impossible or impracticable for the National Executive Committee to undertake or continue its functions of managing the affairs of the Association; or (c) the National Executive Committee of the Association passes a resolution calling upon the Body of Benchers to exercise such powers.
(3)Whenever any of the events specified in subsection (2) of this section occurs, the Body of Benchers shall have power to – (a)inquire into the cause of the default in holding the necessary elections or of the dispute among members of the National Executive Committee of the Association; (b) appoint (whether or not from among the Body of Benchers) such other suitable persons to run the affairs of the Association, and such persons shall be known as the Caretaker Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (in this Act referred to as “the Caretaker Committee”).
(4)A Caretaker Committee of the Association appointed pursuant to subsection (3) of this section shall manage the affairs of the Association for such period as the Body of Benchers may prescribe, provided that the period so prescribed shall not exceed 12 months in the aggregate.
(5)The appointment of a Caretaker Committee by the Body of Benchers shall terminate forthwith all resolutions of the Association or the resolution of the National Executive Committee relating to the operation of the account of the association in any bank and all such other accounts of the association may thereafter be operated by the Caretaker Committee of the Association.
(6)The authority of the Caretaker Committee to operate the account of the Association in any Bank shall not be affected by any order of injunction issued prior to the date of its appointment and any such order of injunction shall by virtue of this Act abate, be made null and void and of no effect whatsoever.
(7)The disciplinary powers conferred on the Body of Benchers under subsection (1) of this section shall be exercised in such manner as may be prescribed by rules made by the Chief Justice of Nigeria in that behalf.
From the foregoing, BoB can only interfere if NBA failed to conduct election to elect its officers and not how the election was conducted.
Yes there was Election conducted in accordance with NBA Constitution. Any aggrieved party has recourse to Appeal Committee of the NBA, Dispute Resolution Committee(Section 17 NBA Constitution), or the Courts and definitely not the BoB.
We hope JK Gadzama SAN didn’t go to the BoB because of the rift between it and NBA, to get BoB to illegally deal with NBA?
The world is watching, particularly in this eve of Nigeria’s General Election, how NBA conducts herself to be able to challenge or point the way for politicians.
The Body of Benchers does not have power to entertain complaints about the conduct of NBA elections.
