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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja.
Former Minister of State for Education, Kenneth Gbagi, has warned members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)plotting to subvert the election of Olumide Akpata that they would be resisted by majority of lawyers who voted during the association’s election.
Gbagi who stated this in a statement questioned the motives and sincerity of those against Akpata’s emergence, while also underscoring the need for reforms in the NBA.
A past chairman of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, described all concerns raised before the elections as untenable, given that the contestants went ahead to participate in the exercise and were therefore bound by its outcome.
He challenged anyone with evidence against the newly elected NBA president with respect to criminal breach of the law to come forward with them.
“Those who are calling for cancellation of the NBA elections are not being fair to the vast majority of lawyers who participated as voters and contestants who are not complaining. I understand that out of the three presidential contestants, one won, one conceded victory and one is disgruntled. So, you can tell whether the majority is dissatisfied or not.
“While it is okay to advocate reforms and improvement, it is certainly not okay to call for cancellation of an exercise that has cost so many so much and widely accepted by the vast majority as reflective of their will. As for those persons hiding under the guise of clamouring for reforms today, where were they since the inception of the NBA? Why were they not bold to clamour for those reforms before now? Is Olumide a lawyer or not?”
