A member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State, Hon. Solomon Bob has slammed the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for condemning the state of emergency rule in the state.
The lawmaker also accused the association of insincerity, hypocrisy and “misguided praetorian pretentions”.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the state following the prolonged crisis between Rivers executive and legislative arms.
The governor, Sim Fubara, his deputy and members of the House of Assembly were subsequently suspended for six months.
However, the crisis assumed a dangerous dimension following a fresh impeachment move against the governor, leading to the blowing up of petroleum infrastructure amid the threat of violence and social unrest before the president stepped in.
On his part, the Rivers lawmaker, on Thursday maintained that “the NBA cannot circumscribe or amend the clear untrammelled and discretionary powers granted the President by Section 305 of the constitution.
“Neither is the NBA in a position to interpret or determine what measures qualify as extraordinary – which the President is required to adopt under the same section”
Furthermore, Bob argued that the legal association lacks the jurisdictional competence or ethical example to be a barometer for measuring democracy and constitutionalism.
The lawmaker knocked the NBA for making itself a cartel where it is impossible to organise its election legally.
Hon. Bob added that since after the fiasco of the 1992 conference, “the so-called NBA elections are no more than predetermined coronation of regional or even ethnic hegemons.”
Furthermore, the lawmaker considered the statement of the association as a distraction, describing Fubara’s governance as “dangerous and incompetent”, adding that it exposed the state to embarrassment.
He charged the NBA of “rank hypocrisy and insincerity because it stood idly by without a whimper when suspended governor Siminilayi Fubara exhibited the type of crass lawlessness and wanton irresponsibility never before seen in any state in Nigeria.”
Hon. Bob said that the NBA’s priorities lay elsewhere. He claimed that “the NBA had got itself entangled in a sweetheart deal with Fubara, a quid pro quo, and it was set to use the Port Harcourt conference to whitewash the worst misgovernment of any state in Nigeria.”
He said NBA’s grudging claim that the sum of three hundred million naira was a gift is unreasonable and unbecoming of a “self-appointed ombudsman”, and proof that they were engaged in a relationship of corruption and compromise with Fubara.
He demanded that the money be returned to the coffers of the Rivers State government, failing which the authorities in Port Harcourt should take every necessary step to recover same.
