“If you channel your energy into positive things, you will be an exceptional leader.”
——Augustine Alegeh, SAN.
So I farted my intension this morning. As predicted, many are running around like blind house flies. Some are accusing me of not abandoning my practice and moving round the 125 branches, not paying BPF for members, not picking up colleagues bills and not hosting them in lounges and gardens.
I maintain that NBA Election should not be cash and carry like APC or PDP’s delegate convention but a civil professional contest. We must find a way to make NBA election cheap so that those who want to serve, are not frightened by the cost; so that they can join the fray and lawyers will be able to make quality, well informed choice and not choices made out of blackmail of, “he told me since last year.” “He donated to our Law Week and sponsored our young lawyers to last year’s conference.”
Well, in every affair of man there are strategies and these are best seen in sports.
As a sports man (I am above average practitioner of these and participated at national competition level; Judo, Karate-Taekwondo and football)
I was the person who bought football and encouraged others to participate in sports while we were in Kano Campus of Law School. We later played in the DG’s Cup( it wasn’t easy playing at that level and was still called to bar without any wahala.
Back to the present. Of all the last leg World Cup qualifying matches, the one that speaks volume to me, is Algeria Vs Cameroon. Algeria thought that they were in Qatar until 120 minutes plus, Cameroon sunk them 2-1.
Also if you followed Usain Bolt, you will discover that races are not won by who took off first but by who digs deep within 45-60 meters of the 100 meters.
As the Bishop, I am always consoled with these passages; 1. 2 Chronicles 20:15, “He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
Ecclesiastes 9:11 “And I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.”
Finally, William Shakespeare said in Julius Caesar, where Brutus talks to Cassius; “There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” You must know the time to thrust or withdraw, that’s what makes you a leader. I will intensify my consultation this week.
I humbly urge all aspirants in the forthcoming NBA election to rein in their supporters, so that we will have a civil, professional contest that will bring out the best to serve the Bar. Let the kite perch, let the Eagle perch, so that together they can hunt rodents and not each other’s chic.
©Felix. C. Ashimole, Esq.
Called to Bar in 2003.
Former Welfare Secretary NBA Bwari
Former Member NBA Anti-Corruption Committee. Former Secretary NBA Bwari.
Publisher www.kubwaexpress.com
