Group To NBA: Pulling Out Of Confab Was A Blunder

A Rights group, Forum for Justice and Human Rights Defence (FJHRD), has pleaded with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to rescind its decision to pull out from the ongoing National Conference in Abuja.

Information Nigeria reports that the NBA pulled out from the conference inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan last Monday over the one slot allotted to the body after a meeting of its National Executive Council led by Chief Okey Wali (SAN) in Ekiti State on Thursday.

According to a communiqué issued after its meeting, the umbrella body for Nigerian lawyers said the single slot allocated to the body was insufficient for it to make an impact at the conference.

The National Coordinator of FJHRD, Mr. Oghenejabor Ikimi, who said on Monday that the group’s attention was drawn to the withdrawal of NBA from the conference, noted that the resolution could become a tactical blunder.

He said: “We, therefore, call for an immediate withdrawal of the decision as same may not be in the interest of the body.

“Though we appreciate the fact that allotting a slot to a body like the Nigerian Bar Association was unfair, pulling out of the National conference was a comedy of error.

“The only representative of NBA in the conference would have been able to canvass the position of the professional body at the conference bearing in mind that almost one third if not more of the delegates to the conference are both qualified Lawyers and members of the Nigerian Bar Association”.

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