NATABLE lawyer, and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Jibrin Samuel Okutepa, has expressed disappointment at the conduct of the just-concluded election of the Nigeria Bar association (NBA), accusing many prominent lawyers of hypocrisy, saying those who regularly criticise government institutions over breaches of due process remained silent over what he described as glaring irregularities in the election.
Declaring that he has “lost faith” in the association, Okutepa accused the NBA leadership of presiding over a flawed electoral process that lacked transparency and due process.
Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya (SAN) was declared the president-elect in the exercise.
Many lawyers had alleged widespread technical glitches, voting difficulties and irregularities during the electronic voting exercise, with critics questioning the credibility of the election.
Okutepa, in a statement on the election, shared on his X handle, said the NBA had abandoned the values of credibility, objectivity, honesty and integrity that should define the legal profession.
He stated: “I have lost faith in the Nigerian Bar Association as professional association of lawyers. Credibility, objectivity, honesty and integrity have all departed from the NBA, affairs of NBA and the politics in NBA, unfortunately.
“NBA is now populated with lawyers, except few, who engaged in mob actions and talks, and lawyers who do not see anything wrong with the glaring wrongs, which wrongs even the blind can see.
“The most annoying thing to me is the hypocrisy of some of the most vocal legal practitioners who see wrongs and complained of wrongdoing on daily basis against decisions and actions of government institutions, which decisions and actions are always taken and or done in breaches of due processes, including decisions of INEC, but did not see anything wrong with the processes of the just concluded NBA coronation.
“Nigerian lawyers should just keep quiet when due processes are violated in the society because the affairs of NBA are not transparent.”
He questioned the composition and independence of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), saying it lacked the autonomy required to conduct a credible election.
According to him: “These sets of lawyers did not see the incompetence and the illegality in the composition of ECNBA and even the lack of independence of the so-called ECNBA.
“These lawyers could not see that the ECNBA was teleguided to produce a predetermined outcome. It is sad that NBA has lost everything noble.”
The senior lawyer said the number of lawyers who were unable to vote exceeded those whose votes were eventually counted.
Arguing that agreed electoral procedures were abandoned to favour a preferred candidate, Okutepa noted: “The processes agreed to be used were jettisoned for processes to produce who the cabals want. The legal profession is going to be the worse for this.
“Shame on those who see nothing wrong with the wrongs that were done in all the processes that culminated in the coronation just concluded.”
He lamented that lawyers who condemned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during previous general elections, particularly over technical failures affecting the election results viewing portal, were now excusing alleged shortcomings in the NBA’s electronic voting platform.
“For me, I have also lost faith in the honesty and integrity of those who were very critical and threatened fire and brimstone over the glitch in the INEC viewing portal then.
“These same sets of lawyers are now excusing the glitch in the NBA portal that clearly showed incompetence and or a predetermined system to favour their coronated president.”
Okutepa said the legitimacy of any election depends on the integrity of the processes leading to it rather than merely the declaration of results, adding: “These NBA elections opened my eyes to appreciate how hollow and shallow most of the people who pontificate and called politicians names are.
“Any credible election is determined by the credibility of the processes leading to election.
“In this year NBA election, every stage of the processes leading to the sham coronation was stage-managed and biased to produce the sham outcome in the just coronation by the kingmakers at NBA House. So sad!”
