Northern lawyers refute claims on adoption of candidate
The Arewa Lawyers Forum (ALF) made up of lawyers of northern extraction have attributed the recent publication which claimed the forum had emerged with a consensus candidate for the July 2016 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) elections, to mischief makers.
The publication in question, which made the rounds in some national dailies, claimed that the ALF had at its last meeting adopted Joseph Kyari (JK) Gadzama, SAN as its candidate for the presidency of the NBA come July.
This development has however been strongly disputed by members of nine NBA branches under the auspices of the ALF in a strongly worded release. In the statement signed by the branch chairmen, they stated that at no time rising from its meeting of 30th January, 2016 did the forum back a single candidate for the July 2016 election to the exclusion of cothers.
The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to publications in various newspapers, giving the impression that the Arewa Lawyers Forum rising from its meeting in Kaduna on January 30th 2016, backed the aspiration of JK Gadzama to contest for the office of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association in the July 2016 election, this is a misrepresentation of facts and made to mislead members of the bar.”
Going on to further refute this position, the members of the forum said, “We state categorically that we did not back or adopt Gadzama as the candidate for the forthcoming elections.”
They claimed that the outcome of the meeting was distorted and misrepresented to the media by persons with ulterior motives.
In another development and ahead of a meeting of the Arewa Elders Committee to resolve the issue of the adoption of a candidate for the Presidency of the Bar, presidential aspirant, Joe-Kyari Gadzama who is displeased with the turn of events, has asked for the disqualification of Mahmoud’s nominees to the Arewa Elders Committee.
At the Forum’s meeting of January 30th, a seven-man committee known as the Arewa Elders Committee was set up – constituting of three nominated members from Gadzama and three from Mahmoud, with a Chairman appointed by the leadership of the ALF.
AB Mahmoud, SAN had gone ahead to nominate former NBA President, Joseph Bodunrin Daudu, SAN; Yusuf Ali, SAN; and Dr. Garba Tetengi, SAN as his representatives in the Committee; a development that has been rejected by Gadzama.
In a letter to the leadership of Arewa, titled ‘Humble protest against two proposed nominees by A. B. Mahmoud’, Gadzama said:
“Please recall that at the last ALF general meeting held in Kaduna on Friday, January 30, 2015, it was unanimously resolved that both Presidential aspirants should forward names of three nominees each, of Northern extraction, for the purpose of constituting the seven-man Committee of Elders to look into the report of the Electoral Screening Committee.
“My attention has been drawn to the fact that my brother and friend, A. B. Mahmoud, SAN has nominated the following distinguished and respected members of the Bar, JB Daudu, SAN, Mallam Yusuf Ali, SAN, Dr. Garba Tetengi, SAN as his nominees for the committee.
“While conceding the fact that the above nominees are respected Bar leaders, renowned achievers and jolly good fellows, the first and second nominees are not qualified to be appointed to the seven-man Committee of Elders. Mr. JB Daudu, SAN has since left ALF and founded Middle Belt Lawyers’ Forum and is now the Forum’s Alter Ego, he has not attended ALF gatherings for the past 6 years, while, Mallam Yusuf Ali, SAN, is an indigene of Ifetedo in Osun State and a member of The ‘Egbe Amofin’ – that is the South-Western Bar Forum.
“By our Constitution, Bye-laws, Policy and Tradition, our members must not only be of Northern extraction, they must also not belong to any of the other regional fora. In the circumstances, I urge your Excellency and the Executive Committee to unhesitatingly disqualify the first and second nominees of AB Mahmoud, SAN.
“Although time to substitute the said two proposed unqualified nominees has lapsed, I do not, in my usual magnanimity, mind if my brother and friend is granted extension of time to substitute. Please do recall that I have not raised the issue of my brother and friend’s disqualification for not attending ALF meetings for over 6 years, owing to the same spirit of magnanimity”. Gadzama stated .
THEODORA KIO-LAWSON