‘Don’t mortgage your
future for peanuts, demand what is rightfully yours by voting wisely’
By virtue of Section
9(4) Constitution of the Nigerian Bar Association {2015} ‘Election into
National offices shall be by universal suffrage and electronic voting as set
out in the second schedule’, by the second schedule ‘All members of the
Association shall be eligible to vote at the general election for National
Executives, provided that such member must belong to a branch and must have
paid both their practicing fees and branch dues as at when due i.e before
March, 31st of every year, and are duly ascertained to vote at that
election.
This translates to
mean any legal professional financially up to date with practicing fees and branch
dues as at when due, and a registered member of a branch is eligible to vote.
In Wikipedia’s word, democracy is a system of government in which the citizens
exercise power directly or elect representatives from among themselves to form
a governing body, such as a parliament. Democracy is sometimes referred to as
‘rule of majority’.
The same applies in
the Nigerian legal industry, every two years lawyers are given the opportunity
to elect officers of the National executives of NBA. With the coming of universal
suffrage and electronic voting, every ascertained member of the NBA can elect
officers of their choice in the comfort of their homes via internet, unlike in
the hay days when delegates where sent from branches. By estimate, around 6,000
lawyers casted their votes at the last NBA national election of 2016, out of
over 100,000 lawyers that we have in the industry.
It is not enough to
only comment on the problems facing the legal profession, for the majority to
rule, majority of the number of lawyers should participate actively in being
part of proffering viable solutions to solve the problem. For the opinion of
the majority to count, the majority of lawyers in the legal industry ought to
be eligible to partake in deciding the fate of the profession.
Most avoidable
problems of the past have become stumbling blocks in modern day legal practice
development, because for so long a time, many legal professionals have stood on
the sidelines while the minority number decides the fate of the Association.
There are so many lawyers in the country plying their trade in other industries
who are completely unaware of the activities of the NBA, making it ironic that
in Nigeria we have members called to Nigerian Bar who do not associate with the
NBA.
Elections are
conducted for members to elect representatives of their choice, we all owe it
as an obligation to the legal profession to decide those who run the affairs of
the association using merit as a yardstick. The young lawyers of today make up
majority of the voters, and also internet friendly, meaning if the young ones
collectively decide to take a different approach to their welfare and status in
the industry, by willingly and voluntarily voting who they feel is the best candidate,
then we can ensure the NBA is about strong institutions, and not strong people.
It is only natural
that when elections come, several members indicate interest, manifestoes of how
to take the association to greater heights are created, and then eligible
members elect officers of the National Executives. It is one thing for your
vote to count, and another for your vote to actually count, that is why the
Nigerian lawyer must vote wisely this time around, do not let anyone tell you
who the best candidate, rather examine all candidates by self and choose who
you feel would not neglect the young generation of lawyers when they assume
office.
‘Don’t mortgage your
future for peanuts, demand what is rightfully yours by voting wisely’
Godspeed!
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observation{s} and recommendation{s} to danielbulusson@gmail.com, follow on twitter @bulussdan,
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