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By Oscar Okhifo, Abuja
Public Interest Lawyers League (PILL), an Association of lawyers, dedicated to promotion of transparency, public accountability and good governance has come hard on the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association as led by Mr. Anyiam Osigwe (SAN) over the association’s refusal to refund the N300 million allegedly given to the Association by suspended Governor Siminalaye Fubara.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday , PILL’s President , Dr. Abdul Mahmud emphasized on the need for NBA leadership to come clean by immediately refunding the entire sum to the state government and resign afterwards.
According to PILL, heeding it’s demands will redeem the association’s already dented image and save it from further public ridicule.
“We are gathered here today (Thursday) under the weight of a heavy moral cloud that hangs ominously over the Nigerian Bar Association, the organization which, for over six decades, has pride itself as the moral compass and watchdog of our nation’s legal order.
“We, at the Public Interest Lawyers League are compel to speak out, not out of malice, or misplaced righteousness, but out of a deeply held conviction that the NBA must be held to the highest standard of transparency, accountability, and ethical probity.
“These are the sacred pillars upon which any credible legal profession must rest. These are the very principles the Bar demands from political office holders , yet seems unwilling to demand from itself.
“Today, we address the sordid scandal involving the acceptance, and indeed, the quiet and clandestine collection of N300m by the leadership of the NBA from the suspended Governor of Rivers state, His Excellency Siminalaye Fubara. “
Recall that the Sole Administrator of Rivers state, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd) recently demanded a refund of the said sum to the state government having denied the state from hosting the incoming NBA conference.
The NBA leadership responded that it wasn’t going to refund the money because it was a gift from the suspended Governor Fubara.
PILL is of the opinion that If the administrator had not exposed the NBA leadership, Nigerians and most members of the Association wouldn’t have known that any money was given in the first place.
“The NBA , an association of legal practitioners, sworn to uphold justice, ethics and transparency, collected N300million from a sitting Governor and failed to disclose it until they were exposed by an external political appointee. Why did the leadership decide to hide such donation from the members?
“This scandal is not only about money, it is about principle. It is about integrity. It is about the soul of the Nigerian Bar Association, ” it said.
Dr. Mahmud lampooned the leadership of the NBA and the chairman of the Conference Organizing Committee, Emeka Obegolu (SAN), accusing them of compromise and gross misconduct.
“The NBA cannot posture as a watchdog of public morality while itself is engaging in conduct so thoroughly devoid of the very standards it seeks to impose on others.
“The insistence of the leadership of the NBA not to refund the N300 million is not only disgraceful, but speaks to the organization’s rot that has enabled the unaccountable elites class within the NBA to hold out the association as a personal fiefdom rather than as a democratic body of professionals, ” it added.
Mahmud also queried the reason behind the leadership’s whimsical decision of Enugu state as the new hosting state. According to him, the decision was undemocratic, in bad faith and was crafted to divert attention .
The reason PILL refused to keep quiet, according to him, is because, as lawyers, especially in democratic societies, silence over any misconduct is complicity.
“In the legal profession, silence in the face of financial impropriety is nothing short of professional misconduct.
“This scandal has put the association’s leadership beneath the same moral bar it has for decades asked others to meet”
PILL says the only way the association could be redeemed is for the President, Mr. Anyiam Osigwe(SAN) and the Conference Organizing Committee Mr. Emeka Obegolu (SAN) to immediately refund the entire sum to Rivers state and resign.
“Those who are preaching against Corruption, and swore to be above board must themselves practice what they preach, ” Mahmud added.