Over 5,000 lawyers from North, Southern states ready to join New NBA – Suleiman

Abdulbasit Suleiman, one of the conveners of the New Nigeria Bar Association (NNBA), has stated over 5,000 lawyers from the North and Southern states are ready to join the new association.

He said prospective members had been asked to compile lists in their branches across the country.

Daily Times recalls that last Thursday, two Kaduna-based lawyers, Nuhu Ibrahim and Suleiman, announced the formation of the NNBA.

The formation of the new NBA was as a result of the Nigerian Bar Association’s (NBA’s) withdrawal of an Annual General Conference (AGC) speaking engagement it offered Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, among other grievances.

The decision of the NBA National Executive Committee (NEC) was mostly opposed by Northern or Muslim lawyers who alleged political, ethnic and religious bias against the governor.

In a protest, some branches of the NBA in Bauchi, Dutse (Jigawa) and Kaduna (Muslim lawyers) boycotted the conference, which held last week.

The NNBA conveners have notified the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) of their plans in an August 28 letter by Ibrahim as Convener 1 and Suleiman as Convener 2.

READ ALSO: NBA: Northern lawyers form new association

Suleiman who spoke to the Nation on Tuesday, September 1, said that the conveners  had also written similar letters to the Attorneys General of the 36 states.

He added: “I never called for only lawyers from the North (to join NNBA); it was a general call. We are all lawyers, we are brothers. So, it is not restricted to Northern lawyers only.

“I am not a northerner; I am from Oyo State, Ogbomoso. Nuhu Ibrahim is from Kaduna, Southern Kaduna, to be precise.”

“I can’t give the exact figure. Some minutes ago, I received a call from Lagos, from some lawyers who said they were interested. So, I directed the lawyer to compile the list over there. So, we are still counting, and I can’t give you a particular figure now,” he said.

According to him, legal practitioners from at least four other Southwest states had indicated interest.

“Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti too called. They have been calling on behalf of themselves and their colleagues over there. We’ve been asking them to compile their lists over there, to know how many lawyers are coming over from there, before we now make a general list and make it available to the public…

“We also have lawyers from Anambra and Rivers states.”

Suleiman claimed that the proposed NNBA had the backing of several SANs.