On
Wednesday 20th July instant I wrote to the vacation Judge Adeniyi’s
Registrar to avail certified true copies of all the processes filed in the
application herein post Lawsuit on NBA. Why did I write a long application? FCT
Courts have a good habit of not allowing anyone who is not a counsel in a
matter access to proceedings unless they indicate in writing reasons and
interest. So I had to spell it out. It is 312 pages plus processes, my Litigation Clerk followed up with court staff.
Today
Friday 22nd July 10:30AM till 12
noon, we were at the court registry to collect it. I wanted to see for
myself that they were complete records.
So we got to the vacation court. By the way there are two vacation
Judges in FCT High Court Justice (Ms) Mary Anenih and Mr Olukayode Adeniji. Her Ladyship not sitting
today. His Lordship was sitting. But as we all know the Court Registrar may not
sit in court, court clerks stand in. So we went to the Registrar’s office and I
witnessed him handover the voluminous file to my Litigation Clerk 2 with courtesy.
I have perused the court processes. Mr A A Malik is for the 1st and
2nd Defendants ie NBA. He works from Alegeh (SAN) & Co.,
Ziguinchor Street Wuse Zone 4. Ken
Mozia SAN the 3rd defendant
is represented by S.T Olorungbuisha SAN Maris Court Apo, The 4th defendant Grace Infotech
Limited ie Ope’s outfit has not shown any interest to defend the suit. Chief
Solo Akuma SAN represents the 5th defendant ie JK Gadzama SAN and JS
Okutepa SAN represents AB Mahmoud SAN – Okutepa has filed a notice of
preliminary objection so also A A Malik Esq.,
LL.M – Please sir Esq is not an academic title. You may sign as A A Malik LL.M plus
other academic titles or simply AA Malik Esq.
The
plaintiff has five Senior Advocates of Nigeria proficient in English language.
They write better law than Okutepa, presentational skills persuasive. However
Okutepa (and A A Malik Esq) filed preliminary objections. Looking at what Alegeh
is saying that NBA did not receive the plaintiff’s appeal for a review
considering his “wrongful” disqualification by ECBNA. The plaintiff exhibited
his appeal and NBA duly acknowledged it. I think this lawsuit should be avoided
Mr President /ECNBA kindly put the man back on the ballot. In any event he
was/is the sole candidate for the office of Publicity Secretary. Scapegoatism is
not a welcomed philosophy.
The
lawyer is clearly in private practice; the Nation newspaper /Vintage Press Limited
not being publicly quoted. The NBA Constitution exhibited did not define
“private practice” to exclude lawyers who give legal opinion or even University Lecturers from holding offices
eg Francis Ekwere, Dr Ogugua etc. We had a similar provision under the 2001 NBA
Constitution they held offices thereat. In
the absence of interpretation clauses restricting
“holding of NBA National offices” to
litigation lawyers such as some here kindly apply the sound principles of the liberal approach.
CA
NOW
WE MAY WISH TO SEE THE APPLICATION CONSIDERED
BEFORE THEY LET C N AJIE CTC OF THE COURT PROCESSES .
THANK
YOU
Wednesday
20th July, 2016
The Registrar
The
Court of Hon. Justice Adeniyi
FCT
High Court
Abuja
Dear Sir/Ma.,
Re:
SUIT N0. CV/2149/16 - JOHN E. UNACHUKWU -vs- REGISTERED TRUSTEES
NBA 2) AUGUSTINE ALEGEH SAN, PRESIDENT NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION AND ORS.
APPLICATION
FOR CTC OF THE PROCESSES FILED AND THE RECORDS.
Towards the biennial delegates election
in August 2014, the second defendant acceded to the concept of universal
suffrage for lawyers by e-voting pursuant to our campaigns. The undersigned and
a number of good colleagues with unwavering commitment made efforts with a view
to democratizing the election process, to enamour transparent and credible
elections such that the votes of our members will count. A cursory look at
Learned Author Femi Aborisade’s views on the subject, at page 24 of the New
Telegraph 18th July, 2016 where he said “First, it must be recognized that the rank and file members of the
NBA, led by people like renowned constitutional lawyer, Dame Carol Ajie, the
leading human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, the principled late human rights
crusader, Bamidele Aturu, and many others, campaigned vigorously for the
democratization of the process of electing NBA national executive members.”
- Frontline Human Rights Activist Aborisade, founding General Secretary of National
Conscience Party, Labour and Employment Law Author.
The NBA
Constitution 2001 which was based on delegates system was amended in August
2015 to reflect e-voting for all Lawyers fully paid up members of the
Association and have not defaulted in payment of Branch dues and annual practicing
fees. Being a financial member as at March 31st statutory
deadline, NBA issues stamp and seal for
the year.
Therefore Lawyers
in practice in Nigeria who were verified (ie updated) upon payment of Branch
dues and Bar practicing fees, were issued NBA stamp and seal should NBA receive
the mandatory additional sum of N4,000 (Four Thousand Naira) for a packet of seal
per Lawyer in the private or public sector. Hence it becomes curious that
between the interval of only 3 months April 1st – 30th June 2016 the same database which formed the fulcrum for verification/NBA
Stamp and Seal a fortiori template
for e-voting gets fluffy with names of
members hitherto verified, missing or misspelt and telephone numbers, email and
Supreme Court enrollment numbers assigned by the same source starts
flustering. At no time during
preparations for e-vote elections were NBA members given the total number of
accredited voters. All we see on the e-voting portal is “update your details”
or “details updated”. There is also no statement from NBA assuring anyone of
the availability or visibility of flowchart and counters, towards ascertaining
the integrity, transparency and credibility of the process.
Architects and
Advocates of a free and fair election by e-vote being excluded at this stage of
implementation and denied even mere monitoring role, means there has been
hidden blunders. We have minted the e-voting mechanism, great but someone took what
was tirelessly advocated by others and gave our NBA toolkit to somewhat tepid
implementation.
NBA is the leading
light of the Society. Hence a Constitutional and human rights Lawyer, who ran
elections in NBA for the office of National Secretary biennially in 2000, 2002,
2004, 2006 and 2008 and lost albeit gallantly to all-male co-contestants, will
express concern that we ought not fail in steering the ship to a safe
berth, pursuant to the new NBA Constitution and best practices,
in keeping to the principles enunciated by the parties herein.
A perusal of the
certified true copies of the court processes when obtained would enable
firsthand information to see if the disputants could be requested to achieve
amicable resolution possibly through mediation, or perhaps parties would prefer
the litigation process run to its logical conclusion, subject to the
convenience and directives of His Lordship.
CTC fees shall
please be fully paid by the undersigned.
Yours
respectfully,
Carol Ajie, LL.B(Hons)Benin; B.L (Lagos); MCIArb.(UK); LL.M (Int’l
Legal Studies) Georgetown
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