NBA to delist new lawyer association sanction Lawyers promoting new group

The Nigerian Bar Association has resolved to commence processes for the delisting of the Law Society of Nigeria (LSN) by the Corporate Affairs Commission. This was contained in a communique released at the aftermath of the quarterly National Executive Committee [NEC] meeting of the Association at the NBA National Secretariat, Abuja, on Thursday, the 15th of December, 2022.

The body added that the recently registered LSN is unknown to members of the Bar.

The communique released by the NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau, (SAN) and Assistant General Secretary, Daniel Kip, also reveals that the NEC agreed to sanction all members of the Bar seeking to promote or register a new lawyers’ association, whether using a new name or as the registered.

“NEC particularly resolves that a Past NBA General Secretary, Mr. Nimi Walson-Jack who acted as a solicitor to the promoters of the new law society be stripped of his privileges as past General Secretary and consequently, be suspended from being a member of the NEC.”

The meeting was the 1st NEC meeting of the Y. C. Maikyau, SAN-led administration upon being sworn in as the President of the Nigerian Bar Association in August this year.

The NEC also frowned at recent divisive efforts by some members of the Association to undermine the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) “for ulterior motives, and firmly resolved, that the NBA is the only recognized, indivisible umbrella Association of all lawyers called to the Bar in Nigeria and there is no other body so recognised or permitted to operate as such.”

Another issue that arose at the meeting was the Letter By The NBA President To The Chairman of the Body of Benchers, Wole Olaonipekun (SAN).

The NEC considered the letters written by the NBA President and his successor, Olumide Akpata, requesting the BoB Chairman to recuse himself from that position in view of a leaked letter written by a former partner of his law firm, Wole Olanipekun & Co, Adekunbi Ogunde, to a foreign client where she alleged that he influenced judges to deliver favourable judgments for his cases.

The matter is now the subject of a matter pending before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC), an arm of the Body of Benchers.

According to the NEC, the issue which gave rise to the call for recusal is not a personal issue of the NBA President, but an issue that affects the entire legal profession and casts it in a bad light.

“NEC, therefore, proceeded to ratify all the letters written by the immediate past and the current Presidents of the NBA to the Body of Benchers requesting Chief Wole Olanipekun, CFR, SAN to recuse himself as Chairman of the Body.

The NEC body at its December 15 meeting also empowered the NBA President to set up a committee to seek alternate ways to resolve the matter.

It also frowns at the lingering situation in the Nigerian Police Service whereby officers who have obtained law degrees and are subsequently called to the Bar are, “discountenanced and denied promotions, causing them to remain in the rank and file despite their academic advancement; while their colleagues who obtained degrees in other professions are promoted without delay”, while it acknowledged the steps taken so far by the NBA President with respect to the issue, particularly in the meeting with the Police Service Commission’s leadership and the pending meeting with the Inspector General of Police.