THE NBA MUST BE FAITHFUL TO HER CONSTITUTION IN THE CONDUCT OF ELECTION

On Wednesday the 21st May 2008 Barrister Vincent Ike Uko former General Secretary of the NBA Lagos Branch and former assistant publicity secretary of the NBA shared with the Squib his thoughts on the need for the NBA to toe the path of constitutionalism in electing new leaders in the August 2008 general elections of the association.

SQUIB: In brief, who is Ike Uko Esq.?
ANSWER: My name is Vincent Ike Uko. I am married to a lawyer with children. I read English Studies at the University of Port Harcourt, did law at the graduate level at the University of Nigeria Nsukka and got my LLM at the University of Lagos ten years ago.
I was called to the Bar in1993 and became a Notary Public in 2001. I have being active at the bar. I held my first office as assistant secretary of the NBA Lagos Branch under Prince Adeniyi Olateru-Olagbegi (as he then was) as chairman. In 2000, I contested for and was elected the Assistant Publicity Secretary at the national level of the NBA, under the presidency of O.C.J Okocha S.A.N (JP) till 2002. Thereafter, I came back to Lagos branch in 2004 where I held office as Publicity Secretary of the branch. In 2005, I was elected secretary, NBA Lagos. I am an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and a full member of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM).

SQUIB: As a bar man, let’s have your views on the NBA vis-avis the nation.
ANSWER: I must say the NBA in the recent past has risen to the challenge. The NBA’s valued commentaries on national issues of vital importance, for example, issues of the subversion of the constitution are well noted. As a vanguard of democracy, she took it upon herself to advise the presidency on burning national issues particularly at the time of the elections. At the last general elections, the NBA sent out monitors and observers, always insisting on due process which helped the elections a great deal in a way. However, there is still room for improvement, the need to make legal services available to more people beyond the present tokenism. NBA must be seen and indeed be championing the cause of the people. For example the recent fire disaster victims in Ijegun, Lagos State should have had their cause championed by NBA in getting compensations from the parties negligently responsible for the disaster; be it the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Lagos State Government or the contractor(s) working at the site of the disaster.

SQUIB: As you are aware that elections would soon be coming up both locally and nationally in the NBA, how do you want the elections to be held?
ANSWER: First of all, the NBA must hold itself as a model and beckon of hope for other associations. Specifically as lawyers, we must buy President Yar Adua’s rule of law and due process. All the branches that make up the national body must make the forthcoming elections hitch free and peaceful. The branches must follow their bye-laws in conducting their elections. There must be a level playing field for every contestant with the law being the leveler. Also, at the national level, the constitution must be followed as specified in the NBA constitution.

SQUIB: When you say at the national level, what exactly do you mean?
ANSWER: The constitution must be followed as contained in Article 11 of the NBA Constitution “the contestant must be in full time private legal practice.” This excludes those in private companies, lecturers or those who are not in full time legal job. My understanding of the NBA constitution is that it wants to make sure that those who want to serve the NBA will be independent in name and in action. Also, the fellow must have paid his/her practicing fee as at when due i.e. before 31st March of each of the three years preceding the elections. Thirdly, the person must have been qualified as per experience of service in the NBA.
There are two dual qualifications:

(i) for those running for various offices ranging from president, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Vice Presidents, General Secretary, Publicity Secretary, Treasurer, Welfare Secretary, Financial Secretary and Legal Adviser. For contestants into these offices, they are required to have served 2 years (24 months) on the National Executive Committee. This means that the contestants must have held office for 2 years as National officers, being the secretary, chairman, and/or the representative of his branch at the NEC or was co-opted into the NEC by the President. To be a co-opted into the NEC, one must have been at least ten years at the bar. This also means that the only way a person can be a NEC member without being ten years at the bar is by running for any of the Assistant positions or being secretary or chairman of the branch where the branches bye-law permits such people under ten years to hold such offices; otherwise nobody can be on the NEC before his tenth year as a lawyer as provided in Article 9(a)(v) of the NBA Constitution.

(ii) The second category are those running for assistant positions such as 1st Assistant Secretary, Assistant Publicity Secretary, Assistant Financial Secretary, 2nd Assistant Secretary. For people vying for these offices, they are expected to have at least served 2 years on their branch Executives. In essence, the only positions at the branch level considered sufficient to qualify a contestant to vie for a major national office are that of secretary or chairman of a branch. There are some confusion among some of our colleagues who feel that once they hold any branch office, they are automatically qualified for any National office. These differences can be gleaned from Article 11(i), (ii) (a), (b) and (c).

SQUIB: Thank you for your analysis. Do you see the NBA embracing these issues you have pointed out vis-avis the proper qualifications to contest of candidates, considering the fact that many people have always believed that a candidate only needs to hold any office at the branch level before gunning for the national office?
ANSWER: Yes, I vouch for the integrity of the current leadership under Olisa Agbakoba S.A.N. There are some issues that have been omitted by oversight in the past but I think once their attention are drawn to the issues, they are quickly addressed.

SQUIB: If I may ask, do you have any aspiration to contest at the national level.
ANSWER: Yes, I do. By the grace of God and support of my fellow lawyers, I want to run for the post of the next treasurer of the NBA

SQUIB: Why treasurer?
ANSWER: I have served the NBA in various positions both at local and national levels. And I think that the office of the treasurer is critical in any association and should be given the seriousness it deserves. Based on my past experience at the bar, I want to accept the challenge. As treasurer, I will collect money on behalf of the bar and will advise the NBA properly. We have not exploited all the opportunities to make more money for the association. We have to bring all those who are supposed to pay practicing fees into the net. We also need to emphasise fiscal federalism between the national body and her 88 branches. Their share of the funds of the NBA must be given to them promptly and faithfully. There is a very urgent reason to empower the branches. Some branches exist only in name because they do not have the financial muscle to carry on routine activities like organising a law week and running efficient secretariat. The strength of the chain is at this weakest joint. For a truly powerful NBA, the branches must be strengthened. Every year, the NBA raises a lot of money both from practicing fees and donations and these are spent on recurrent expenditures. I expect that by prudent management, NBA can invest some of these surplus money in securities such as government bonds, mutual trust fund etc.
I am not unaware of these projects as build, transfer skills currently going on in Lagos and Abuja. I give kudos to the person that made this happen. However, a plant grows not just on the big showers that come, not just in a while, but on the every day dew that gives the plant its life line. We need short term, mid term and long term investments for the NBA to be strong. This I can do if given the chance.
I think there is need for collaboration for the offices of the treasurer, financial and welfare secretaries. As we make it big for the NBA as a body, we also empower the NBA members. It is painful to see lawyers begging for alms when they need medical attention. The NBA must work out a workable health insurance scheme for her members.

SQUIB: Thank you very much for your views, we wish you the best in your aspiration. What is your view about the screening of candidates, because in the past some were improperly screened out and some illegally screened in?
ANSWER: I read the election guidelines as published at the Markurdi NEC meeting. It’s quite a good working paper but there is room for improvement especially on procedures for appeals. Traditionally, when nomination closes on 30th June, Section 20 (e) provides that there must be a compilation of all nominations received. In practice, the General Secretary invites some bar leaders at his discretion and the candidates and their agents. The nature of the opening of the ballot papers does not give room for proper screening. This has resulted in some unqualified people running for elections in the past against the spirit of the constitution. There is a need to make an improvement so that the screening will accord with the constitution. Any protest and/or discussion of the nomination can only happen at the next NEC meeting which usually comes late July about a month to the general election. There is a need to make this appeal to be more efficient.