On Sunday, 26th April, 2020, I was busy celebrating with my son, David Longwilliams on his 8th birthday when my attention was drawn to a publication put together by Mr. George Fortune Igbikikuno Esq. a one time Publicity Secretary of the Eastern Bar Forum.

Upon a thorough reading of the publication, I remembered the words of the 16th President of the United States of America, President Abraham Lincoln when he said thus ” better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and be found foolish” George Fortune Igbikikuno Esq. should have kept silent.

Unfortunately, the assiduous piece put together by the learned law lord, George Fortune Igbikikuno Esq. lies on the sorrowful tripod of ignorance, misinformation, mischief and treachery.

The first of the wrong trajectory is the issue of leadership in the Eastern Bar Forum which laid bare his ignorance. The principle of oscillation of offices did not start since the inception of the Eastern Bar Forum in 2004. Several members including Chief Phillip Ndubuisi Umeh held sway as an unelected Chairman of the Forum until Prof Ernest Ojukwu SAN who was also
Chairman of the Forum for over five years successfully conducted a free, fair and credible elections in 2011 and handed over to Hon. Kemasuode Wodu as the first elected Chairman of the Forum from the Southsouth with Chief Ogbonnanya Igwenyi as Secretary from the Southeast. This election marks the incipience of the oscillation of offices in the EBF as against the position buttressed by Mr.George.

When I was privileged to serve as Secretary of the Forum between 2013-2015, the Chairman of the Forum, Chief Ogbonnaya Igwenyi represented the Southeast and l represented Southsouth. Fast forward to 2015-2017, Elder Effefiom Ekong from the Southsouth served as Chairman while Sir Basil Aguigwo from the Southeast served as Secretary. In 2018, Sir Arthur Elvis Chukwu from the Southeast as Chairman while Paul Ubom from the Southsouth served as Secretary. Presently Sir (Hon) Ray Akanwa from the Southeast is serving as Secretary while I humbly serve as the present Chairman from the Southsouth.

To be properly educated on the provisions of the constitution of the NBA 2015 as amended and whether or not it eroded the gains made over the years by EBF, l hereby refer Mr. George specifically to Article 2.2 sub a-f, 2nd Schedule at Page 25-26 of the CNBA 2015 as amended and the provisions goes thus: ” 2.2 Election of National Officers
(a) The Association shall for the purpose of elections of National Officers be divided into
three geographical zones namely – Northern zone, Eastern zone and Western zone.
(b) The positions of the President, 1st Vice President, 2nd Vice President, 3rd Vice
President and General Secretary shall rotate among the three zones. In determining the
eligibility of a candidate to contest for any of the rotated offices, regard shall be had to
a candidate’s Geographical Zone of origin and not the geographical Zone where he/she
carries on legal practice.
(c) The Geographical Zone that produces the President of the Association shall also
produce the 1st Vice President.
(d) Where a position is zoned to any particular geographical zone, the position shall be
rotated and held in turn by the different groups and/or sections in the geographical zone.
(e) A list of the states that make up the zones shall be as follows:
(i) Northern Zone – Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano,
Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe,
Zamfara, and Abuja
(ii) Eastern Zone – Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Enugu, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Cross River,
Imo, and Rivers
(iii)Western Zone – Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo
(f) All members of the Association shall be eligible to vote at the general election for
National Executives, provided that such members must belong to a branch and must
have paid both their Practising Fees and Branch Dues as at when due and are duly registered to vote at that election.

From the above provisions , it is safe to say that the constitution did not in any way erode or erase the core values of the EBF, for the first time in the history of the NBA, the various regions that constitutes the NBA were given statutory flavour and protection thereby strengthening the various regional forums. Universal Suffrage as enshrined in the CNBA 2015 as amended did not in anyway diminish the gains made over the years by the EBF.

On 21st March, 2020, the Eastern Bar Forum met in Owerri, Imo State. However, prior to that meeting, the Governing Council of the EBF in its desire to foster peace within the Forum on 8th February, 2020 had a family meeting with all the EBF potential aspirants including five aspirants for the position of General Secretary for the NBA elections. At the said meeting, three aspirants for the position of General Secretary argued against adoption, that argued that they should all be allowed to run for the elections on the premise that the office of GS is zoned to the east and that all the aspirants are from the east. Okey Leo Ohagba’s view was that he will abide by whatever decision EBF adopts. Mrs Joyce Oduah was the only aspirant who called for an adoption. About a week after, Mrs. Joyce Oduah changed her position and called to say that she has changed her mind on the issue of adoption, that all the aspirants should be allowed to run.

At the Owerri General Meeting, as provided in Article 11 of the EBF Constitution, the Elders Council of the EBF met at about 7am and in attendance were all the aspirants including aspirants for the office of General Secretary. The Elders deliberated on the issue and took contributions from all the aspirants for General Secretary on the issue of adoption and it was unanimously resolved without any objections from any aspirant or member of the Elders Council that all the aspirants for the position of General Secretary and the position of 3rd Vice President which is also zoned to the east should be allowed to run for the elections. The resolution of the Elders Council was brought before the General Meeting for debate. The General Meeting which is the highest decision making organ of the EBF after a robust discussion on the issue, unanimously agreed with the decision of the Elders Council.

Gentlemen, it will interest you to know that learned law lord Igbikikuno George Fortune Esq was present at the said meeting. In fact he served as the Master of Ceremony and was present when the issues were brought before the meeting and discussed. He did not contribute a word to the discussion neither did he raised any whimper on the resolution reached at the meeting. He was one of the members of the EBF that accepted and endorsed the decisions reached at the Owerri Meeting. For him to turn around now to claim that members of the Elders Council cleverly and retrogressively gloss over the matter speaks of gross mischief, misinformation and treachery on his part. Furthermore, the Forum did not at anytime resolve that if Joyce Oduah wins the election, she would be deemed to have taken the turn of the Southsouth, the meeting did not specifically mention the name of any aspirant on the issue of whoever wins the elections and which section on the zone will be presenting aspirants when the position rotates back to the east, the meeting resolved that whoever wins the election amongst the five aspirants for the position of General Secretary, it will be deemed that the winner has taken the slot of his/her section within the EBF. Nobody took out Mrs. Joyce Oduah as a case study as posited by Mr. George.

It is pertinent to state here and now that a hundred of the likes of Mr. Igbikikuno George Fortune do not have the wherewithal to put EBF into extinction.
Such vituperation is rebellious, anarchical, treacherous and myopic. The rantings of law lord George Fortune Igbikikuno is like the soliloquy of Macbeth in the classic literature series “Macbeth” where Sir William Shakespeare succinctly wrote thus ” it is full of sound and fury signifying nothing”

S. Long Williams Esq.
Governor, EBF