Edo Guber: Benin NBA Asks Participating Parties to Play By Rules of Engagement

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

Ahead of the Edo State governorship election slated for September 21 this year, the Chairman of Benn Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Nosa Edo-Osagie, has called on the 13 political parties and their candidates to ensure that they play by the rules to avoid the breakdown of law and order.

Edo-Osagie stated this at the opening ceremony of the Annual Law Week of the branch also known as the Lion Bar with themed: “Law as a Tool for Economic Advancement and National Security.”

According to him, “The political parties and the their candidates must play by the rules. Incidentally, there are some of the candidates who are members of the NBA and what is critical to the body is that they must play the game by the rules.

“Otherwise we will have consequences, anarchy is not what we crave for in the society, because when there is anarchy, there is a bigger problem than you expect. So for all those aspirants in the field, they must by necessity play by the rules.”

The association also invited some of the candidates including Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) who are both members of the NBA; Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Isaiah Osifo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Earlier, chairman of the planning committee of the Law Week, Paschal Ugbome, explained that the theme was chosen to reflect the current realities in the country and that solutions would also be proffered at the end of the day.

In his goodwill message, Governor Godwin Obaseki, who was represented by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, also said the theme was right.

He added that by encouraging investment and economic advancement, “We must examine our legal framework with the possibility of reforming it to ensure it is fit for the present realities.”