Again, NBA Asks Olanipekun to Recuse Self as Body of Benchers’ Chairman

* Urges Mary Peter-Odili to preside at Tuesday’s call to bar

 Alex Enumah in Abuja

For the second time in four months, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called on Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) to recuse himself as Chairman of the Body of Benchers (BoB) pending the investigation by the BoB of allegation of professional misconduct involving a former staff in his chamber, Ms Adekunbi Ogunde.

A former President of the NBA, Mr Olumide Akpata, had on July 22, urged the chairman to step down while investigation of the alleged misconduct against Ogunde was on-going to allow for a fair, unbiased and transparent investigation.

Akpata had also called for the investigation of Wole Olanipekun and Co Chambers to ascertain the level of the chamber in the professional misconduct of its staff if there are any at all.

However, the issue was not discussed at the last meeting of the BoB preceding the last call to bar in August this year.

But barely 48 hours to the December call to bar, the incumbent President of the NBA, Mr Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), has again brought the issue to the fore with a letter written to Olanipekun, calling on him to step aside and allow the Vice Chairman of the BoB, former Supreme Court Justice, Mary Peter-Odili (rtd), to preside at Tuesday’s event.

The letter read in part: “Mr Chairman, I did not mince words about the devastating effect of that email on our noble profession of law and by virtue of the strategic position of this Body in showcasing the crème-de-la-crème of the legal profession in Nigeria, this Body must acquit itself of any complicity, albeit after the fact, in any act of professional misconduct.

“In the circumstances therefore, and given the need for an urgent remedial action, I adopt the letter by my immediate predecessor-in-office dated 22 July 2022 and call for its immediate consideration. 

“I also humbly call on the Chairman to immediately yield to the Vice-Chairman of this Body – Hon. Justice Mary Peter Odili, JSC, rtd., to preside over the Call to Bar ceremony scheduled for 6 and 7 December 2022. 

“We owe the younger generation of not only lawyers but Nigerians honest and sincere mentorship. To allow the status quo to remain in spite the colossal damage that has been done to the conscience of this nation – the legal profession, is to abdicate our responsibility to the nation.”

According to Maikyau, the call is predicated on the need to salvage the body and by extension the judiciary which has been in a bad light since the revelation of an email written by Ogunde.

The NBA chairman lamented that there are many voices that should have been heard but were not heard specifically on this matter. 

He said given the important and critical nature of the issue to the continued relevance of the Bar and the silence of the leading lights in the profession, who wield enormous amount of influence not only amongst the members of the legal profession but also the Nigerian public at large, is already hurting the profession and ditto the Nigerian public. 

Maikyau stressed that whatever their views are on the matter is not that important, “they simply owe the profession and the Nigerian public a duty to not only wade into the matter, but also be seen to have done so. As I stated earlier, the ultimate outcome will either make or mar the legal profession in Nigeria”.

“Mr. Chairman, I have, since assuming office as President of the NBA, expressed concerns over the negative impact of the email by Adekunbi Ogunde (as with so many other actions of our colleagues), on the legal profession in Nigeria. In my inaugural Address on 26 August 2022.

“I specifically referred to the email and the matters arising therefrom and said it is important to emphasise that how these matters are eventually resolved by the LPDC and the court will go a long way in determining the continued relevance of the Bar, the confidence in which the Nigerian people will hold the legal profession and the eventual freedom which Nigeria will or will not enjoy. 

“Put differently, the resolution of these matters one way or the other, will determine whether members of the legal profession in Nigeria either individually or through the instrumentality of the NBA, will be in position to provide the required leadership for the recovery, reformation and repositioning of Nigeria, to bring about the freedom we all need,” he said.