El-Rufai: NBA President Pleads With Aggrieved Lawyers, Calls For Unity
President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olumide Akpata, has urged all legal practitioners not to promote division in the association over the withdrawal of the invitation to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State to speak at the just-concluded Annual General Conference.
Akpata was sworn in on the 28th of August during the conference as the 30th President of the association, after Paul Usoro.
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Recall that the former leadership of the NBA had dis-invited El-Rufai over the security situation in Southern Kaduna.
But, this did not go down well with some lawyers, particularly of northern extraction, as they had threatened to boycott the conference.
THE WHISTLER also gathered that some of the lawyers had created another group called New Nigerian Bar Association.
However, Akpata, in a tweet on Sunday, stated that the new administration would thrive if its members loved each other while avoiding tribalism.
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“Secondly, I am not unaware of the very recent events and agitations that have tended to divide our bar along regional and religious lines.
” I plead with all Nigerian lawyers to bear this sense of unity in mind as we commence a new journey together,” he stated.
Also, he noted that the issue “is rather unfortunate for an egalitarian association like ours.”
As such, he urged all members to see his leadership in a new light, as everyone would work to promote the rule of law.
His tweet further reads: “The weight of expectations on us is immense and there is no time to take anything for granted.
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“This enormous task cannot be achieved if we continue to fan the embers of division at a time when we desperately need to unite and speak with one firm voice.
“The bar that I now lead must be one that is united on all fronts and that recognises that our diversity is, perhaps, our greatest strength.”
