Dear sir,

Respectfully sir, I would have approached you privately to express these thoughts of mine but I haven’t found you quite receptive and accommodating lately. Whilst you may consider this out of place, I however beseech you to look beyond the faults and frailties that may attend to this method of mine but give an inclining ear to these thoughts of mine the expression of which has become increasingly necessary in the light of the recent happenings.

Firstly, sir, I have watched lately your actions, attitude and demeanour at the Bar House and on our WhatsApp platforms. It suffices to say that many of us find it really perturbing and I must state here and now why I and other members of the Bar think you and some of your supporters, if any, owe the Bar and the public an apology.

Respected Senior sir, before most of us forget, I take it upon myself to remind you that you are the present Legal Adviser of the NBA-Benin Bar the implication of which leaves the Constitution of the Bar at your full reach or, perhaps, at your fingertips. A full grasp of the dynamics of your extolled position would have prevented some shameful and your below par display which is now rife on our platforms.

Sir, as a member of this current Exco, we are aware that you seconded the motion of the appointments of this present Eleco. If your present claims and that of some other few colleagues that the Committee ought to be five (5) and not seven (7) are anything to go by, don’t you think as the Legal Adviser of the association, you have failed woefully on your part to do your job? Assuming without conceding that these false claims making the rounds are any close to being correct, you should, as the legal adviser of the Association resign immediately for failing to do your job.

Were we to assume that your false claims are correct by any inch or stretch of imagination, it suffices to say that you owe the Bar an apology for ineptitude by the virtue of your office as the Legal Adviser, having so violated the same NBA Constitution upon which you were expected to act. Does it not occur to you that we ought not to hear a word from you now, having failed to do your job? Don’t you think as a man of honour, you ought to own up to your own wrong?

Again sir, as the present Legal Adviser of the Association and, in furtherance of your political intentions to vie for the position of NBA-Benin Bar Chairman, you submitted yourself to the Eleco for screening. The question then is, why did you subject yourself to be screened by the same Eleco which you are now strenuously claiming is not properly constituted? Your office as the Legal Adviser is not for cosmetic purposes. You are by your office, a watchman and a prompter. You have the duty to not only speak out against any infractions and anomalies but to do so very timeously.

It does not only offends reason that you are now decrying a system you attempted to benefit from but also very disappointing that you had to wait till you were not cleared to start crying foul about the number of the Eleco members. Does these actions of yours and that of other colleagues reflects true honour and character or is there more left to be desired on the spectrum of moral rectitude?

Furthermore sir, don’t you think you never came out clean before the Bar to tell us why you were not cleared. Since you didn’t, conscience, posterity and history behooves me to set the facts straight here and now.

Respected Silk, Elders and Colleagues, Mr. Idemudia Osifo was not cleared because one of his nominators did not pay his branch dues for the 2019 Legal Year but went ahead to forge a receipt which he submitted to the Eleco as his nominator.

The Eleco, in diligently performing their duties, painstakingly went through the statement of account and never found his nominator on the bank statement of account. This act is a grievous one and in other climes, the Bar would be talking about pressing criminal charges against such a person for the offense of forgery.

Respected Mr. Idemudia Osifo sir, given that your nominator forged a simple but important document of an Association you intended to lead at the branch level, as a man of character, you ought to purge yourself of any such ambition and apologize to the Association for identifying with a person who tried to undermine the integrity and moral fabric of the Bar.

Dearest Mr. Idemudia Osifo sir, as the Legal Adviser of the NBA Benin Bar, I think it will be honourable for you to step down having failed to carry our your constitutional duty diligently by advising your Exco that membership to the Eleco ought to be five (5) and not seven (7) assuming without conceding that your claims are correct in the first place.

Sir, you ought to also push for the prosecution of your nominator for forging the branch local dues receipt. By now ideally, you and Mr. Emmanuel Okosun ought to be begging members of the Bar for forgiveness after stepping down and not spearheading a crusade of false and unfounded claims..

Lastly sir, elections come and go but the Bar remains. It is unfortunate that after you were not cleared by the Eleco for the obvious violation stated above, and rather than purge yourself of your inglorious escapades, you have decided to enage in a more lowly and reprehensible duty of ensuring that elections do not hold.

The term of office is just two (2) years and two (2) years sir, is not forever. Your attitude now will determine if persons will consider you worthy to lead the Bar in two (2) years time. You must, as a matter of urgency, desist from your present charade and attitude on our respected WhatsApp platforms as it doesn’t portray you as a good loser in the light of sportsmanship but also a bitter man who wants to disrupt the process because he was not cleared.

Finally sir, I look forward to you stepping aside for now and begging for our forgiveness and the earlier you do this, the better your chances to salvage your future political ambition here or anywhere. Do not forget observers are everywhere.

May I also use this opportunity to plead with you that you admonish some of your violent supporters to accept defeat, embrace peace and move on.

Yours Sincerely,

Jude Osasere Ogbeide.
Chairman Young Lawyers’ Forum, NBA Benin (Lion) Bar.