Dear Seniors/ Colleagues,
We are a body of lawyers and as such, we would not flippantly make unfounded statements, simply to defame our dear friends and colleagues, knowing the legal implications thereof. As the Exco, wielding the leadership of the YLF-PH in trust for all young lawyers in the NBA Port Harcourt Branch, we will not condone financial impropriety. All we demand, is that the financial records for the 2023 YLF-PH Summit, be set straight! Young Lawyers have a right to know these details.
2. Repeated demands have been made verbally by the YLF Exco, to the Summit Planning Committee led by David Njoku, to provide the YLF with the records of the donations received, and expenditure made, for the YLF-PH Summit, held on 20th October 2023. Same has been met with plain refusal. The exco is left with no choice but to take actions to protect the integrity of the Forum.
3. Letters were put out by the Committee responsible for planning the Summit held on 20th October 2023, seeking financial support for the said event. Financial donations were received on behalf of YLF, for the Summit. All we are demanding from the suspended YLF Chairman Dr Victor Enebeli is to render proper account.
4. Today, 21st April 2024, six months after the YLF Summit, David Njoku has neither presented a report to the YLF Exco nor the General Meeting, with respect to the inflow and outflow of funds for the Summit. It was so bad that David Njoku shrewdly ensured that no member of the Summit Planning Committee knew the total budget for the Summit or any other financial detail. For clarity, till today, the Treasurer, Financial Secretary, and even the now suspended Secretary of NBA-YLF PH, do not have the financial report of the YLF Summit.
5. Since the inaugural meeting of this Exco held in October 2022, YLF has never held its meeting outside the NBA Port Harcourt Branch House, whether or not there was power supply. With no prior discussion about a Change of Venue, a notice of meeting was issued for the April 2024 YLF General Meeting, on Tuesday, 16/04/2024, by the Publicity Secretary, on behalf of the now suspended Secretary of YLF (who had until her suspension derelicted her duty for almost 1 year). In that notice, the venue of the meeting had been slated to be NBA Port Harcourt Branch House. Flowing from that, the CLE Committee prepared a flier for the CLE Session, which also indicated NBA House as the venue. Same is attached hereto.
6. In the early hours of 19/04/2024 Specifically at about 1: 29 a.m , the day of the YLF meeting, we received a notice from the CLE Committee signed by the CLE Secretary, to the effect that the venue for the CLE Session, and by extension, the YLF General meeting, had been moved to the Justice Mary Odili Judicial Institute. A Decision outside the powers of the CLE Committee. Incidentally, we held a virtual YLF exco meeting on 18/04/2024 between 9pm and 11:37pm which the suspended Chairman was absent as he claimed he was sick and couldn’t join, in that meeting the matter of change of venue was never discussed.
7. Does the CLE Committee have the power to change and issue a Notice in opposition to the Notice of Meeting issued by the YLF Exco, with regard to the venue of the YLF General meeting? The answer speaks for itself. A member of the exco, on 19/04/2024, at about 7:30am, had a telephone chat with the suspended YLF-PH Chairman on this issue who stated that the notice of change of venue was issued because of a tip off that the generator at the NBA house was faulty which collaborated with the bulk SMS messages sent by the CLE Committee, He however agreed that the notice of change of venue was not duly issued, and affirmed that the meeting would be held at the NBA Port Harcourt Branch House, with or without power supply. It is worthy of Note that all through the time the YLF-PH Meeting held at the NBA House PH which is the proper Venue for the meeting there was steady Power supply and the Generator was in good shape against the claims by the suspended YLF-PH Chairman.
8. The decision of the choice of venue for YLF-PH General Meeting, is a decision of the Excos and not the singular decision of the YLF-PH Chairman or the CLE Committee. The YLF is not a Sole Proprietorship enterprise, and as such, the Chairman could not have rightly made a unilateral decision that would bind other exco members.
9. There was never a time any member of Exco opposed the choice of our reverred and delightful learned senior, Mrs. Cordelia Eke, as a resource person. The choice of CLE resource persons have always been the prerogative of the CLE Committee, provided that the Committee brings a speaker who will contribute to the body of Legal knowledge of our members.
10. Members of YLF went ahead to conduct the General Meeting at the NBA PH Branch House of which the said speaker Mrs. Cordelia Eke who was present at the NBA PH House as at the time the meeting was ongoing. An Exco was asked to invite her that the stage is set for her to deliver her scheduled Lecture, Mrs. Cordelia Eke declined stating that the YLF-PH Chairman asked her to come to the JUSTICE MARY ODILI JUDICIAL INSTITUTE where there was an ongoing LEGAL TRAINING SESSION to deliver her Lecture. Interestingly The Excos have now been unwittingly tagged as persons who are against the choice of Mrs. Cordelia Eke as our CLE speaker.
11. By the official records available, there was only one YLF General Meeting for the month of April 2024, and it held on Friday, 19th April 2024, at the Rivers Multipurpose Hall, NBA PH Branch House, by 1pm. Same was duly attended by over 60 young lawyers. We are however aware, that there was a LEGAL TRAINING SESSION , which was well attended by very senior lawyers, of the NBA Port Harcourt Branch, which held at the Justice Mary Odili Judicial Institute, on the said 19/04/2024. Please note that the Justice Mary Odili Judicial Institute, is an Institute established by the Government of Rivers State for the training of Judicial Officers in Rivers State and their support staff.
12. However Some members of the YLF were reliably informed that sensitive documents, Minutes and attendance book, other records of the Forum had been moved out of the YLF office and the NBA House, without authorisation, and taken to a LEGAL TRAINING SESSION held at the Justice Mary Odili Judicial Institute. Given the urgent need for those documents and records, to proceed with our General Meeting, these members of the Forum went there and retrieved same. We are still working with the management of the NBA Port Harcourt Branch House to discover the person who broke into the YLF office to steal official records of the YLF and abandoned them at the Justice Mary Odili Judicial Institute.
13. Consequent upon the foregoing, let it be known to all, that these issues are internally generated and have nothing to do with anybody’s electoral aspirations. Members of Exco are only insisting that the right thing must be done and due process must be followed.
14. Although the Branch is in the process of resolving the issues identified above, and as stated in the Resolution of the YLF dated 19/04/2024, we find it pertinent to exercise our right of reply.
Timothy Clement
Publicity Secretary YLF PH.
For NBA PH YLF Forum.
