A new body of lawyers, the New Nigerian Bar Association (NNBA), has notified the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, of its existence.
The new association said its formation, last Thursday, followed the alleged failure of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to uphold a national unity in its recent decisions.
Last Thursday, two Kaduna-based lawyers – Nuhu Ibrahim and Abdulbasit Suleiman – announced the NNBA’s formation, following NBA’s withdrawal of an Annual General Conference (AGC) invitation to Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, among other grievances.
They informed the AGF of their plans in an August 28 letter signed by Ibrahim as Convener 1 and Suleiman as Convener 2.
Both men had said they and other like-minds were consulting with senior lawyers of Northern Nigeria extraction and those practicing therein with the view to constituting the (board of) trustees and for purposes of fixing a date for formal inauguration of the association.
But some lawyers from or practicing in Northern states offered divergent views on the move.
While two Senior Advocates of Nigeria – Mallam Yusuf Ali (SAN) and Rafiu Lawal-Rabana (SAN) – sued for unity, Jibrin Samuel Okutepa (SAN) and The Arewa Young Lawyers’ Forum told newsmen that the Constitution is on the side of the new association.
