SOME aggrieved lawyers from the Northern part of Nigeria have written to Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to inform him about their intention to form a new group known as the New Nigerian Bar Association (NNBA).
The group’s intention was contained in a letter dated August 28, 2020 and signed by Nuhu Ibrahim and Abdulbasit Suleiman, the conveners of the new group, and obtained by The ICIR on Sunday.
In the letter, the group affirmed that its formation has become imperative and expedient because of the disposition of the Nigeria Bar Association’s NEC, which has failed to capture national interest and unity.
“The formation of the new association has become imperative and expedient especially flowing from the activities, disposition and recently the decision of the Nigeria Bar Association — NEC, which apparently failed to take into consideration our national interests and particularly do not promote the unity of our indissoluble country, Nigeria,” the letter read.
The group stated that it believes in the ideals that bound the country together, noting that the labour of our heroes past must not be in vain.
“Sir, the New Nigerian Bar Association believes in the ideals that bounds our country together as echoed in our national anthem: The Labour of our heroes past shall never be in vein.”
The letter stated further that work is in progress with regard to the formation of the association, just as it promised to keep updating the Minister.
“You are, however, to be informed that work is in progress with the regards to all the nitty – gritty of the formation of the Association such as this to which we shall keep you updated.”
The group, however, said it looked forward to the minister’s understanding, urging the minister to accept its assurances of highest regards.
“Whilst we look forward to your understanding please accept the assurances of our association’s highest regards.”
This comes after the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NBA withdrew the invitation to Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna to speak at the just concluded 60th annual conference of the bar.
El-Rufai’s disinvitation to the conference was the outcome of protest by some lawyers against him who cited the killings in the Southern Kaduna and the governor’s record for disregard for rule of law.
The lawyers who mounted the protest threatened boycott of the conference if the Kaduna State Governor was a speaker at the event.
While the NBA bowed to their pressure, the withdrawal of the invitation also led to boycott of the conference by some branches of the NBA who argued that NEC did not follow due process to arrive at its decision.
Meanwhile, there has been no statement from the leadership of the NBA on this development.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via niyioyedeji1@gmail.com. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.