{"id":117561,"date":"2025-04-18T09:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T08:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=117561"},"modified":"2025-04-18T09:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T08:05:10","slug":"refund-n300m-to-rivers-government-lawmaker-slams-hypocritical-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/refund-n300m-to-rivers-government-lawmaker-slams-hypocritical-nba\/","title":{"rendered":"Refund N300m to Rivers Government-, Lawmaker Slams &#8216;Hypocritical&#8217; NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Tracy Moses<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hon. Solomon Bob, a federal lawmaker representing Rivers State, has launched a blistering attack on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), accusing the body of hypocrisy, political bias, and backroom dealings with the embattled Rivers State Government.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Reacting to the NBA\u2019s scathing criticism of President Bola Tinubu\u2019s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, Hon. Bob on Thursday described the association as a \u201cmorally bankrupt, self-appointed praetorian guard\u201d that has long abandoned its founding principles in pursuit of vested interests.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe NBA\u2019s reaction is not only hypocritical, it is steeped in misguided praetorian pretensions and institutional dishonesty,\u201d Bob declared in a strongly worded statement. \u201cIt has become a cabal cloaked in legal jargon, spewing political propaganda under the guise of constitutional advocacy.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The political landscape in Rivers has grown increasingly volatile in recent weeks, with renewed threats of impeachment against Governor Siminalayi Fubara by the Martin Amaewhule-led faction of the State Assembly, widely seen as loyal to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike. The crisis boiled over with reports of sabotage targeting oil installations and mounting fears of a descent into anarchy.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In response to the chaos, President Tinubu declared a state of emergency on March 18, citing security concerns and threats to national assets. The National Assembly swiftly approved the measure, invoking Section 305 of the Constitution. But the NBA, in a widely circulated statement, condemned the action as unconstitutional and an overreach of executive power.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hon. Bob, however, was unsparing in his rebuttal. \u201cThe NBA cannot dictate to the President or revise the Constitution to suit its political whims. Section 305 is clear, and its invocation is the exclusive preserve of the President not a debating club masquerading as a legal watchdog,\u201d he thundered.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a stunning twist, the lawmaker accused the NBA of entangling itself in a shady alliance with Governor Fubara\u2019s administration, suggesting the association&#8217;s opposition to the emergency declaration was fueled not by legal principle, but by financial patronage.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cLet us be clear: the NBA is compromised,\u201d Bob declared. \u201cIt entered into a quid pro quo arrangement with Governor Fubara and planned to use its upcoming Port Harcourt conference as a smokescreen to whitewash the most rudderless and disgraceful administration in the history of our state.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to Bob, the NBA only admitted to receiving a staggering N300 million from the Rivers government after public pressure and outrage forced the disclosure. He mocked the NBA\u2019s characterization of the money as a \u201cgift,\u201d describing the explanation as an insult to Nigerians and a stain on the association\u2019s credibility.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWhat kind of watchdog accepts hush money and calls it a gift? That\u2019s not advocacy that\u2019s collusion,\u201d Bob said. \u201cIf the NBA still retains any shred of integrity, it should return the funds immediately. If not, the Port Harcourt authorities must move swiftly to recover what is rightfully public money.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He slammed the NBA\u2019s leadership, alleging it had long lost the moral compass to speak on matters of justice or democracy, citing decades of questionable internal elections and a track record of selective activism.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cRather than call out Governor Fubara\u2019s brazen incompetence, the NBA chose to look the other way, until it got caught red-handed,\u201d Bob said. \u201cIts silence in the face of Fubara\u2019s recklessness is complicity, pure and simple.\u201d<\/div>\n<div class=\"yj6qo\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"adL\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Tracy Moses Hon. Solomon Bob, a federal lawmaker representing Rivers State, has launched a blistering attack on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), accusing the body of hypocrisy, political bias,&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Refund N300m to Rivers Government-, Lawmaker Slams &#039;Hypocritical&#039; NBA - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/refund-n300m-to-rivers-government-lawmaker-slams-hypocritical-nba\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Refund N300m to Rivers Government-, Lawmaker Slams &#039;Hypocritical&#039; NBA - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Tracy Moses Hon. Solomon Bob, a federal lawmaker representing Rivers State, has launched a blistering attack on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), accusing the body of hypocrisy, political bias,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/refund-n300m-to-rivers-government-lawmaker-slams-hypocritical-nba\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-18T08:05:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Solomon-Bob.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/refund-n300m-to-rivers-government-lawmaker-slams-hypocritical-nba\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/refund-n300m-to-rivers-government-lawmaker-slams-hypocritical-nba\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Refund N300m to Rivers Government-, Lawmaker Slams &#8216;Hypocritical&#8217; 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