Two members of the Nigerian Bar Association Ikeja Branch, Roselyn Ekhoeobakpolor Esq and Joy Unaeze Esq has dragged the Chairman of the Branch, Bartholomew Oguegbodo Esq and fifteen other parties to court over illegal spending of the branch’s money and other unlawful acts by the Executive Committee of the Branch.

The case filed on 22nd of June 2021 among others things is asking the court to determine the power of the Branch Chairman to act without following rules of the Association vis-a-vis the Uniform Bye Law of the Association.

According the court documents, the Branch Chairman in connivance with some EXCO members of the branch and without authority constituted some committee for the Branch even the Branch Executive Committee is not yet fully constituted.

The members accused the Chairman of unilaterally issuing a decree and disqualifying members from contesting for the vacant seat of NEC Rep. According to the Chairman’s decree, only  Messrs Abdulsalam  Abdllateef  and  Adesina  Ogunlana will vie for the NEC Rep.

The Members also accused the Chairman of illegally constituting Branch Committee including the Branch Electoral Committee which the Chairman ordered to conduct election within 36 days.

The groups want the court to declare null and void all the illegal actions of the Chairman. The members also wants the court to hold that the Chairman cannot appropriate the monies of the branch without following due process.

Basil Owolabi Esq, the immediate past treasurer of the branch had accused the Chairman of running a Charade in the name of an Executive committee in his resignation letter hinting of crisis within the Executive Committee.

“The aftermath realization rising from said meeting is that you, as Chairman, are hell-bent on continuing with the barefaced, unrestrained leadership charade under guise of a nonexistent Executive Committee. I have therefore also invoked my corresponding responsibility to make a bold exit by disengaging myself from such perilous grip; seeing, as it were, that I can no longer continue to serve – in good and clear conscience – under such fractious, tenuous, and toxic circumstances brought about by your intransigent refusal to play by the established rules.”Mr Owolabi had wrote in his resignation letter.

See the case below: