Nigerian Bar Association Constitution
nba.org.ngNigerian Bar Association Division To Offer Free Legal Service To People
The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Barnawa division in Kaduna State on Friday said it would designate a legal aid desk to offer free legal service to the public who couldn't afford legal representation.
The recently elected Chairman of the division, Mr Napoleon Idenana, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna shortly after his election to pilot the affairs of the Organization for the next two years.
He said we intend to open a legal aid desk for members of the people, especially individuals who need legal representation but cannot afford it.
We shall make attorneys available to provide legal services for them at no price.
Idenana added that a team of legal professionals had been encouraged to speed up the process of creating a high court in Barnawa or any part of Kaduna South found acceptable.
We will equally ensure that the Barnawa NBA branch, which is hardly a year old, gets a befitting secretariat within another two years.
We shall also be socializing with the state government, the judiciary and the state house of assembly to give our quota where required and when called upon to do so.
We will equally enrich the wellbeing of our members, particularly young lawyers, by exposing them to educative, educational and aspiring ventures through seminars and trainings.
I promise you that before the end of our tenure, Barnawa NBA division will be known nationwide as a model branch and will be the envy of all.
Previously, the new chairman had sworn to carry on the confidence bestowed on him and his team and pledged to carry the division to greater heights.
nba.org.ngHe appealed to members for support and guidance where necessary for the increase of the branch, adding that his doors would be forever open for advice, suggestions and guidance.
The division also elected Mrs Chi Obi-Igwe as Vice Chairman; Mr Kayode Faturiyele, Secretary; Miss Halima Bello, Assistant Secretary and Mrs Ene Oga as Social Secretary;
Others are Mrs Lilian Ilechuku, Financial Secretary; and Ben-Churchill Aniekwena, Welfare Secretary; Malam Shehu Sanusi, Treasurer; Mr Lamidi Obaro, Provost Marshall and Mrs Toyin Ogbujie as legal Adviser.
Meanwhile, Mr Cyril Ogbekene was elected the National Executive Committee (NEC) representative.
NAN reports that all the positions were unopposed except for the office of the promotion secretary which was contested by Mr Emmanuel Nwokenekwu and Mr Imodojemu Ehizogie.
Yet, Nwokenekwu withdrew his nomination merely when the election was about to commence and Ehizogie was return elected.
Created in June 2015, the Barnawa NBA branch was the 111th branch to be created in the state.
It was created during the Associations NEC assembly in Sokoto, with Malam Muritala Abdul-rasheed as Chairman and Philemon Panan as Secretary.
Abdul-rasheed said the new executive would be sworn in during the branchs Annual General Meeting scheduled for July 1, 2016.
Asset Declaration Trial: SERAP Wants Nigerian Bar Association To Probe Sarakis Lawyers For Walking Out On Tribunal Judge
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to urgently investigate the actions of attorneys to the Senate President Bukola Saraki, for walking out on the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Thursday after the tribunal refused their application for stay of proceedings in the asset falsification trial against the Senate President.
The organization said that, It is the function of Mr. Sakaris lawyers to serve their clients best interests but in doing so they shouldn't act in a way that would put the administration of justice, the societys self-confidence in the judicial system, and the fight against corruption at risk.
In a statement today signed by SERAP Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organization stated the following:
Walking out on the Code of Conduct Tribunal for just and accurately implementing section 305(e) of the just enacted Administration of Criminal Justice Act is disrespectful. It transgresses the basic rule that lawyers should act with integrity and professionalism, keeping his or her overarching responsibility to ensure civil conduct.
SERAP considers a lawyer's responsibility to the court is a fundamental obligation that defines a attorney's function within the adversarial system. Attorneys should at all times act to encourage the rule of law and the people's trust in the administration of justice rather than to be seen to undermine it or facilitate an infringement of what the law states.
As we have seen many times, with no rule of law, the rule of the jungle takes hold and the economically and socially vulnerable fall victim to the powerful and nobody is safe. The rule of law also creates a disincentive for would be corrupt officials.
Senior attorneys particularly have a responsibility to act as the defenders of the rule of law by contributing to a powerful judicial and legal system that's vital into a well-functioning democracy and which in turn is essential to satisfactorily prevent and combat years of official corruption in the nation.
If Mr. Sarakis attorneys were dissatisfied with the ruling of the Tribunal there are laid down procedures that they should have followed to demonstrate their role as officers in the temple of justice rather than giving media interviews and literally abusing the Tribunal. We urge the NBA to urgently investigate what just happened and to punish any professional misconduct which could have occurred.
Nigerian Bar Association uncovers over 1,000 imposter attorneys
The Nigerian Bar Association says it's discovered no fewer than 1,000 fake lawyers in the country in recent times.
The Vice President of the organization, Mr Akintokunbo Oluwole, stated this on Monday in Akure, the Ondo state capital, during a Special Sitting of the NBA to mark the launch of the 2015/2016 legal year.
According to him, the imposter lawyers were found after the inauguration of the associations Postage Policy, which was introduced to control the operation of quacks in the legal profession.
Oluwole clarified that the issue of quackery in the legal profession had been a pain in the neck of the organization.
He added, to date, the NBA Stamp Policy has had the opportunity to animate the system and has increased the earnings flow of lawyers across the country.
It's enhanced the credibility of records which are now being filed in court registries since all legal documents must now bear the stamps of attorneys to be considered valid. The persons (quacks) have also devised various means albeit unsuccessfully, to scuttle the smooth execution of the policy.
He called all stakeholders in the profession to assist the organization in actualising the vision of restoring the integrity of the legal profession.
In his remarks, the state Chief Judge, Justice Olasehinde Kumuyi, said the state judiciary had been able to checkmate all forms of malpractices in the states third arm of government.
Justice Kumuyi said that some suspicious people had carved out personal stamps, which they used in issuing illegal affidavits to unsuspecting members of the public.
One of the ways used to check the malpractices in the state judiciary, the CJ described, was the prohibition of affidavits by proxy, irrespective of the despondents status, describing that a particular Seal of Oaths and distinct serial were affixed to all affidavits while hard and soft copies were archived.
Speaking on the occasion, the Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, expressed satisfaction over the operation of the judiciary, counseling the arm of authorities to not compromise with any arm in the interest of democracy.
Nigerian Bar Association queries Bayelsa governor, Dickson, around attack on Court
The Nigerian Bar Association has queried the Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, for top thugs to attack a Federal Court in Yenagoa, the state capital.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is a totally disorganised body with an unclear mission and insecure future; where predatory sexual misconducts are rife and the morale of its abused and used staff is next to zero, a report submitted by the associationscommittee on professionalization of the NBA secretariat has said.
In a damning analysis of the rot that's eaten the associations secretariat, the committee said, If any other organization or thing can rise to offer to members of the NBA a unifying guarantee of professional growth or edge, the NBA as we know it could become history.
The report fears that the secretariat has become so dysfunctional that it could endanger the continued existence of the organization as it could rubbish it with undesirable pecuniary and reputational consequences.
According to the report, the shoddiness of the secretariat has sabotaged the processes of professional subject in the legal profession in Nigeria.
Members of the association complain that they get nothing in return because of their devotion to the organization in type of division membership and practicing fee, which are the associations lifeblood,leading one senior advocate to competently describe the association as grossly incompetent, the report says.
The governor was captured on video, walking into the court premises, accompanied by his police guards and hangers on, before hooligans, including rifle-wielding police officers, invaded and attacked the court.
The video, published by PREMIUM TIMES Friday, triggered indignation with several Nigerians demanding an independent investigation into the attack.
Mr. Dickson, a lawyer, is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, and a onetime attorney general of Bayelsa State. He's also a former member of the House of Representatives.
The NBA president, Augustine Alegeh, told PREMIUM TIMES the association of lawyers in Nigeria had sent a letter to the governor, asking him to clarify his activities in the court.
Mr. Alegeh clarified that the NBA needed to hear the governors side of the story before deciding whether or not, disciplinary measures would be meted against him.
nba.org.ngHe said the organization will also learn from the lawyers who were in the court during the attack.
We now have sent a letter, a notice of info and a link of the video to him, asking for his own side of the narrative, Mr. Alegeh said. Once we hear from every party involved, we'd take action and make accessible our next line of action.
There isn't any defining eyesight or programmatic agenda that offers growth, value added or a competitive existential or professional edge to the members of the NBA or effective programs for engagement outside the politics of bar activism.
Formed in 1933, the NBA is a non profit, umbrella professional association of lawyers admitted to the Bar in Nigeria.
It's participated in the promotion and protection of human rights, the rule of law and good governance in Nigeria. It has an observer status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, and a working partnership with many national and international non-governmental organizations concerned with human rights, the rule of law and good government in Nigeria and in Africa, the NBA website states.
nba.org.ngThe association is presently constructed of 100 divisions, three professional sections, two specialized institutes, and six practice-cadre newsgroups. It's one of the most vocal and honored professional associations in Nigeria and has had over 25 heads since start.
The report, submitted in January, by the NBA committee headed by Chidi Odinkalu, a law professor and current chairman of Nigerias Human Rights Commission, nonetheless, reveals a decayed national secretariat without scruples.
