A Senior Advocate of Nigeria Anthony. A. Malik, has also reacted to the letter written by Chief Awomolo, SAN where he expressed fears over the position of NBA President being taken by a non Senior Advocate of Nigeria (NBA).

It would be recalled that Chief Awomolo, SAN had earlier written to the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria(BOSAN) urging them to take steps towards upholding the integrity of NBA by ensuring that only SANs should always hold the position of NBA President.

In reaction to this, Mr. Malik, SAN has expressed his disagreement over the assertions of the learned silk. LEGALDESKNG learnt that , this was contained in a statement made available to TheNigeriaLawyer.

“Mr. Gboyega Awomolo, SAN is, by any parameter, a doyen of the Bar. I respect him and appreciate his overall contributions to the Bar and the enrichment of our body of laws.

“Regrettably, I am unable to navigate my way through the contents of his letter. In clear terms, his letter does not enjoy my endorsement in the least. “ He said.

Furthermore, Mr. Malik contends that since the recently amended NBA Constitution does not contain any provision restricting the office of the NBA President to only SANs, it would be counterproductive to import into what the Constitution has not provided for.

“We have a Constitution which has just been amended and it serves no good importing into it what is not contained therein.

“If it was the desire of the Association to make the Presidency of NBA the exclusive preserve of SANs, a provision along this line would have been inserted in the Constitution.”

In addition, he urged that members of the profession should be given the opportunity to choose the candidates they want, whether SANs or non-SANs.

“I feel we should allow members exercise their right to freely determine who leads them.

“ECNBA has cleared 3 of our members to contest the election [albeit I do not agree with the disqualification of Mr. Ogunlana. But that’s a discussion for another day).

“2 of them are SANs. One is not. Let them go into the contest.” He said.

Reacting to the assertion of the learned silk on junior members trying to “wrestle” power with the SANs, he submits that this is not the first time a non SAN is vying for the office of NBA President.

“I don’t know of and see no “wrestling” anywhere. And the last time I checked, this is not the first time a non-SAN is attempting to “wrestle” power.

“The last time out, Afam Osigwe was coasting home to victory before his aspiration was unjustly truncated. Yet on all previous occasions, heavens did not fall. This time around, the same heavens will not fall.” He said.

Finally, he said since all the candidates are qualified to lead the Bar, the members should be given opportunity to exercise their franchise by voting for any of candidate of their choice.

“Olu Akpata is eminently qualified to lead the Bar, whether he belongs to the inner or outer Bar, pretty much the same way the highly respected Dele Adesina, SAN and the highly cerebral Babatunde Ajibade, SAN have all it takes or requires to be our President. Please let them all go into the contest and leave us, SANs and “JANs” to decide.” He concluded.