There are indications that the All Progressives Congress(APC) Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his New Nigeria Peoples Party(NNPP) counterpart, Malam Rabiu Musa Kwakanso may have shunned the invitation of the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) to its Annual General Conference which begins today in Lagos.
Conference planners said both presidential candidates did not respond to their letters of invitation as at Thursday.
However, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) presidential candidate, and his Labour Party counterpart, Mr Peter Obi have confirmed their attendance.
NBA President, Olumide Akpata made it clear that the association is not endorsing any candidate but that since these candidates have offered themselves to lead Nigerians, they will be interrogated on the issues of democracy and leadership deficit that organizers identified as key problems facing the country. “It is not a manifesto time. It is a regular session at the conference where we are interrogating the issue of democracy in transition and the leadership deficit that we have identified in this country.
He added: “Those of us who were involved in conceptualizing, thought that we should talk to those who are trying to ask us as Nigerians, to allow them to lead . So these are the person’ that came up as attendees. It is therefore the normal conference format of four people sitting down, one moderator asking questions; they will have the opportunity to make opening statements and then take questions from moderator and thereafter questions and answers from lawyers like any other regular conference sessions. It is not a manifesto night
Chairman of Conference Planning Committee, Tobenna Erojikwe said the organizers have reached an understanding with the political leaders that only a specific number of their members would be allowed into the conference arena for effective control. He also reiterated the fact that NBA is apolitical and will not endorse any candidate.
“We have 13,000 participants. It is what they want that we essentially have to deal with. We have tried to deal with issues because we have tried to be responsive. We are going to ensure as much as we can that many more of the candidates to the extent that they are interested, can be in the room. We will extend invitations to them; They may not be in the stage like the four advertised persons but they will be in the room and we will try and ensure that the event allows for them to air their views as far as time will permit.
“We are apolitical as an organization; our members may be political but as an organization we are definitely not
Tagged Bold Transitions, Erojikwe said that the conference team was informed by a number of events, factors cum consideration
He said: “The key word in the theme for this year’s conference was picked very deliberately and interestingly it is the word that we want people to pay attention to.
“In the last two conferences we have had themes like “facing the future”, and “taking the lead” however, the word BOLD is key and the word transition is also very important because it is happening everyday .
“I think the analogy is that if someone goes to sleep five years from today and wakes up, he will meet a completely different world it is happening at a spate that is unimaginable
“So, one of the things that led us on the choice of the 2022 theme are some of the things the president brought in during his tenure like digitizing the NBA and making us more adept to the use of technology.
“For instance payment of bar practicing fees, payment for conferences and all, are now done electronically and we saw the challenges that our members face in trying to keep up to the pace of this advancement, despite the convenience of using new ideas and technology.
“It became clear that these transitions are things we face everyday and we are not adapting to them as quickly as possible. So that is it about the adjective BOLD.
“It is telling our people that this is how we have to approach it, that boldness is a catalyst for the type of change that we must face and we must confront it boldly,” he said.
He said that most importantly the legal profession has led the change anywhere in the world, and so, it is a moment of reawakening and for legal practitioners we are saying, we need to “take the bull by the horns”
“I think the analogy is that if someone goes to sleep five years from today and wakes up, he will meet a completely different world it is happening at a spate that is unimaginable.
“So, one of the things that led us on the choice of the 2022 theme are some of the things the president brought in during his tenure like digitizing the NBA and making us more adept to the use of technology.
“For instance payment of bar practicing fees, payment for conferences and all, are now done electronically and we saw the challenges that our members face in trying to keep up to the pace of this advancement, despite the convenience of using new ideas and technology.
“It became clear that these transitions are things we face everyday and we are not adapting to them as quickly as possible. So that is it about the adjective BOLD
“It is telling our people that this is how we have to approach it, that boldness is a catalyst for the type of change that we must face and we must confront it boldly,” he said
He said that most importantly the legal profession has led the change anywhere in the world, and so, it is a moment of reawakening and for legal practitioners we are saying, we need to “take the bull by the horns”
He noted that everything to be done at the conference will be surrounded by the word BOLD.
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