NBA: Is there any big deal in litigation practice?
NBA: Is there any big deal in litigation practice?

By Abdulrasheed Ibrahim, Notary Public

Chief Niyi Akintola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and one of the prominent leaders of the Egbe Omofin Odu’a (a Yoruba Lawyers Group) recently dropped a verbal missile that has sparked another controversy among the lawyers. When I first came across a news banner by a blogger that “ALL YORUBA LAWYERS MADE A PACT TO WORK AGAINST THAT BOY, AKPATA AS NBA PRESIDENT, NO SENIOR LAWYER ATTEND HIS EVENTS” attributed to Chief Akintola, my reaction was to question the adjective ALL considering the number of those Senior Lawyers including Yorubas that took part in most of the activities and events organised by Akpata’s NBA Presidency. Was the caption appropriate? Since we live in a society where the Editors of Newspapers want to make a lot of money from the sale of their newspapers, the same way news bloggers want to generate traffic, sensitive headlines must be crafted to achieve that. Reading through Chief Akintola’s outburst revealed that the theory of ALL YORUBA LAWYERS was misleading since. To Akintola himself the “pact to work against that boy” was not supported by those boys and girls he referred to as BETRAYERS and SOROSOKE who wanted to hold positions under Akpata’s NBA Presidency and climb the trees from the top.

In this latest NBA controversy, I observed what many of our colleagues have ignored certain thing and I will come to that later. In other parts of the world, lawyers are regarded as the best of the politicians and may be that was why many lawyers eventually succeeded in the conventional politics to lead their countries. The conventional politicians in Nigeria seem to be smarter than the NBA Bar politicians. I will give you one or two examples and I want you to prove me wrong. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu were not best of friends when they both respectively held political offices as President of Nigeria and Governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007. Despite the Supreme Court’s judgment, Obasanjo held on to the fund that ought to go to the Lagos State Government .The same Tinubu put together the APC and backed Buhari , a serial loser of Presidential elections to chase out Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan from the Aso Rock Villa as Chief Tenant in 2015. Now Tinubu wants to be the Chief Tenant at Aso Rock come 2023 and has visited Obasanjo and Jonathan respectively to solicit for their supports. The two former Presidents never shut their doors against him but received him as their guest. Do not be surprised if you see Tinubu at IBB’s residence in Minna tomorrow. Those who do not understand politics are now castigating him thinking that politicians in Nigeria should be enemies rather than being friends as they their followers are enemies.

Looking at the above narrative, what do we have in NBA? We have NBA politicians that still keep malice against themselves after elections. The last NBA President that came from the core WEST was Arakunrin Olurotimi Akerede, SAN who served between 2008 -2010 and now the incumbent Governor of Ondo State. Mr. Augustine Alegeh SAN particularly from the MID-WEST served as NBA President between 2014-2016 when the NBA Presidency returned to the WEST for that period. But when the NBA Presidency again returned to the WEST in 2020, Akpata from the MID-WEST showed interest in becoming the NBA President to the displeasure of some Senior lawyers particularly from the Egbe Amofin in the core WEST on the ground that since Mr. Alegeh, the last NBA President from the WEST came from the MID-WEST, it would not be proper again for Akpata from the MID-WEST to come up again. The issue generated a lot of debate at that time in the NBA and particularly in the WEST. At the end three contenders ran the race in 2020 including Dr. Babatunde Ajibade SAN, Deacon Dele Adesina SAN and Mr. Olumide Akpata , the only non-SAN in their midst but eventually won the election. What I believe eventually worked in favoured of Mr. Akpata then was the unguided and controversial statement made around that time by Chief Gboyegan Awomolo (SAN) that the position of the NBA President should be the exclusive preserve of the member of the Inner Bar. While the members of the Inner Bar are the minority, members of the Outer Bar are the majority in the legal profession. The position canvassed by Chief Awomolo was not contained or supported by the NBA Constitution. The situation that year 2020 demonstrated the wisdom in the concept of the minority will have their saying but the majority will have their way. I am of the view that the failure or refusal of some of the leaders of the Egbe Amofin including Chief Niyi Akintola to respect the 2020 VERDICT of the majority in the profession informed the decision they have taken on their own.

Similar issue of which part of a particular zone or region whose turn was to produce the NBA President should be allowed to produce it , again resurfaced when the preparation for this year NBA election began and there was the argument by some lawyers that since North- Central and the North-West which are parts of the NORTH have already produced NBA President, the North-East that has not produced before it should be allowed to produce the President. It needs to be pointed out that the NBA Constitution only provide for the President, 1st Vice and General Secretary to be rotated among the EAST, NORTH and the WEST. Unlike the attitude displayed by Chief Niyi Akintola and those that shared his grievance, Chief Joe Gadzama SAN must be commended for the eventual high sense of maturity displayed by him in attending and taking part in this year NBA conference and reconcile with his major contender in this year NBA election, Mr. Y. C. Maikyau the new President. Whichever way election goes, we need to display the spirit of sportsmanship as to do otherwise will not be in the interest of anyone or the Association. The decision of the majority must always be respected at all times.

As mentioned earlier, Chief Akintola’s outburst was prompted by his refusal to accept the verdict of the majority in electing Mr. Olumide Akpata as NBA President in 2020. He went to the extreme by his comment that has attracted a lot of negative comments against him and being disassociated from by many Yoruba lawyers. Chief Akintola had remarked that :

“…When that boy Akpata came on board, we the Yoruba Leaders, the Egbe Amofin, we took a unified position that we will not dignify that boy with our presence at any of Bar gathering. Unfortunately, some of our people who took that decision alongside of us betrayed that trust…That boy has never practised law before in his life. He is a transactional lawyer. He cannot even move a motion .He has never done so before .He said it himself. He doesn’t go to court. He is a businessman .He is a transactional lawyer and you make such a person your president .Somebody who doesn’t even know psychology of the court, he doesn’t know the geography of the court…”

I wonder why a learned Senior Advocate would go to the extreme of calling any well grown up and married man a boy. Honestly this was a great insult and hatred carried beyond boundary calling a former NBA President, a boy! Many lawyers particularly among the Yorubas have distance themselves from Chief Akintola’s outburst saying he is on his own. Some lawyers have argued that he only spoke out his mind. There may not be anything bad speaking out one’s mind but that must not be done to degrade others as if they are not human being like the speaker. There is a great wisdom in the saying that thinks twice before you act or speak out. Nobody can claim monopoly of speaking crudely or recklessly. This is one of the reasons why I have in the past expressed the view against of formation of these tribal and regional lawyer groups within the NBA in different part of this country. Despite the fact that some positions have been zoned to various regions why not allowing people interested in those regions to come out and contest for positions to test their acceptance or popularity? Why the politics of adopting of a particular candidate over another candidate within the same region? Are they saying one of the candidates is more indigenous than the other in the same region or zone?

On the assertions that Akpata is a transactional lawyer and does not know the psychology or geography of court as well as that he does not go to court to know how to move a motion, are these requirements under the NBA Constitution to contest to lead the Bar? Is there any provision in that constitution that says only the lawyers in litigation practice that can lead the Bar? In reality it is not only Akpata that belongs to the class of transactional lawyers who do not know the psychology or geography of court and do not go to court talk less of knowing how move a motion, we have many of them who have made great fortune and wealth in their area of practice in this profession even than the well known litigators in this country. We all know many of them and we do not need to be mentioning names here. The practice of law is a question of choice and what individual wants to be involved in and do with his or her knowledge of law.

Is there even any big deal in litigation practice? There is no doubt that litigation is a very interesting aspect of legal profession, but the reality today is that many lawyers are abandoning it for something else. Profitable or lucrative litigation practice has become a big monopoly of certain lawyers and as such becoming more unattractive and frustrating for some lawyers. Mr. Anthony Atata, the Editor of COURTROOM MAIL once depicted the situation as follows:

“Today, law practice is openly becoming a ‘side hustle’ for many lawyers and they are not bothered. It has become common to see a lawyer on social media with a beautiful profile picture taken in a court advertising the sale of shoes, clothes, hair extensions, catering services etc. They will proudly tell you that it is what they do but they practice law. This is bad news for a profession that had guarded its reputation for decades. We now have cement dealers that practice law by side….Few years ago, members of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) complained about the large number of SANs being admitted. Many lawyers of course understood why they had a concern. If there are too many people in the food fight, there may not be enough food for the fight. The legal profession has become a ship with hole .The SAN title is now like an evacuation boat in a shipwreck .Concerns are being raised that if there are too many people on the evacuation boat, it may sink with the ship they are trying to escape from instead of fixing .The rank is now seen as an escape from the hardship in the profession…”

Honestly, except we want to call a spade a spoon, the only set of people you can confidently say they are making good money from litigation practice today are those Senior lawyers in the monopoly of doing election petitions or defending politicians facing financial crime offences in courts. Politics is the most lucrative business in Nigeria today. Elected politicians here live in free residences; eat free foods, using water and electricity freely, being driven freely in expensive cars and earned big emoluments as salaries. With these entire free bonanzas, they are still not making positive impact in the lives of the people that elected them into offices. Whenever they lose elections they have the capacity to hire hundred of SANs to defend them and play to the gallery through the hierarchy of courts. The former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Onnoghen had to be very smart in issuing out directive curtailing the number of lawyers to appear before the Supreme Court on both sides in a case to five (5) lawyers on each side. The donkey of years that usually take to conclude a case; long adjournment and unnecessary stress that lawyers are undergoing in litigation practice are part of the factors making it discouraging. Chief Akintola’s assertion trying to create the impression that litigation practice is superlative is a very big farce as there is no big deal in it. I absolutely agree with Arakunrin Olurotimi Akeredolu (SAN) when he said :

“ May I also hasten to make some clarifications concerning our profession , not only for the benefit of our younger colleagues but, more importantly, members of the public who may be misled to imagine that the only aspect of the legal profession is litigation. This area of practice affords practitioners certain visibility especially when they are involved in election petitions and other political matters .This does not make those , who may not have enjoyed the privilege of retaining rich and politically exposed clientele , less intelligent or relevant in our profession….There are many of our colleagues in the academia who attained prominence by the dint of seminal interventions in area of research .The opinions of these jurists have always had persuasive authority on the courts at various levels. Lawyers rely on these reasoned views. There are lawyers who are in the academia. Others are into the business of law publishing. Discounting their invaluable contributions while delimiting the scope of practice to litigation is, evidently, not a fair representation of what we do and who we are . We are deemed learned because we should know ‘something about everything, and everything about something.’”

There are great lessons to be learnt from this. In politics, we need to be friends rather than enemies. We should see election as carnival rather than a battle field and when the election verdict comes, the loser should congratulate the winner in the spirit of sportsmanship. I often say it that : I loser today may be a winner tomorrow. In aspiring for position in any election, there must be planning and strategy. Avoid keeping malice and grudge unnecessarily against people without first privately register your grievance with them to pave way for understanding and reconciliation. Lastly think deeply before making comments or remarks as any negative things you say may be used against. Try to learn from history, so you will not fall a victim of history.

NOTE: Anyone is at liberty to disagree with my above submissions as I will surely appreciate a balanced, fair and objective rebuttal.

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