By Seyi Odewale, Cajetan Mmuta and Ben Adoga
Yesterday, the Rivers State Government rejected the Nigerian Bar Association’s (NBA) claim that the N300m given to the body by Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s suspended administration was a gift.
In a statement, the media aide to the state’s Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd), Hector Igbikiowubo, said the Rivers State government’s records showed that the payment of ₦300m to the NBA was made with the mutual understanding that Rivers State would host the 2025 edition of the NBA AGC.
It added that the “Rivers State government entered into this arrangement with the NBA in good faith, understanding that hosting the conference in the state would attract significant economic benefits to our state, positively and directly impact “our people’s businesses.
The NBA’s unilateral decision to relocate the AGC 2025, it said, was against “our mutual understanding and subsequent decision to withhold the ₦300m paid to host the NBA AGC 2025 in Rivers State is unethical and amounts to a breach of trust.”
According to the statement, the state would not hesitate to seek legal options if the NBA failed to immediately refund the ₦300m.
“Failure of the NBA to immediately refund the ₦300m to the Rivers State government will compel the implementation of all legal means to recover the property of the good people of Rivers State,” it said.
It added, “We reaffirm our willingness to engage in partnerships with all professional bodies, including the NBA, but we will not accommodate exploitation of our people and the Rivers State government.”
*’What are our annual dues and conference fees meant for?’
Meanwhile, reactions have followed the purported N300m fund, which the NBA tagged as a gift to it. A senior lawyer and social critic, Ebun Adegboruwa (SAN), yesterday sided with the Rivers State government, saying the NBA should return the N300m to River State as soon as possible.
According to him, there was no basis for the association to go cap-in-hand to beg for money to host the conference.
He said in a statement yesterday, “I read with utter shock and disbelief the story of N300m given to the Nigerian Bar Association by the Rivers State government as part of support for the Annual General Conference.
“All lawyers in Nigeria pay their practising fees annually. Money is also charged for lawyers who wish to attend the conference, so there is no basis for the NBA to go cap in hand to beg for money to host a conference of lawyers.”
He continued, “Lawyers are the conscience of the society, who are expected to champion the rule of law. Such an organisation should not be seen to be romancing any government, socially, in the face of suffering by the masses of our people due to wicked economic policies and human rights abuses by the government. After all, he who pays the piper dictates the tune.
“We have no basis for retaining the “gift” from Rivers State. So, the NBA should refund the money immediately. We should not hide under any semantics or bureaucracy to retain the money. It should be paid into an escrow account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, pending restoring democracy in Rivers State. The NBA is not a bank,” he added.
Adegboruwa urged the bar’s elders to intervene urgently to remove what he termed collective shame. “If the money has been spent, I urge all SANs and senior lawyers to contribute N1M each to raise the money,” he said.
He suggested that the NBA should proceed cautiously in raising funds from all manner of persons and institutions. “Lawyers in Nigeria are well endowed to fund any programme for the NBA,” he said.
Another lawyer and the President of the African Public Interest Lawyers Union, Andrew Emwanta, has called on the NBA to refund the ₦300m it received from the Rivers State government for its 2025 Annual General Conference, saying doing so would protect the integrity and image of the legal profession.
Emwanta, who spoke yesterday on a television programme, said the gift, although termed “a gesture of support,” has become controversial due to the political developments in Rivers State and the NBA’s decision to move the conference from Port Harcourt to Enugu.
“There is no proper way to do the wrong thing,” he said. “The proper thing to do, to save the image of our profession, is for that money to be refunded. It’s Rivers taxpayers’ money. If you are not doing business with them, return their money.”
He questioned the NBA’s motivation and urgency in condemning the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State, which led to Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s removal.
“Barely two hours after the broadcast, the NBA condemned the move. I felt that was hasty,” Emwanta said, accusing the body of aligning itself with Fubara’s faction.
“Now that the NBA refuses to host its conference in Rivers State, what happens to the money already spent on hotel bookings and logistics? The honourable thing to do is to refund the ₦300m.”
He also raised concerns about the perceived ethnic bias in the NBA’s choice of Enugu State as the new conference venue, asking: “Why Enugu? Why not Abuja? There’s now an ethnic reading to this. The NBA President is from Anambra. The profession must protect itself; it has a moral question.”
*’ It is the only way to protect the integrity of the legal profession.’
Also, a veteran journalist and rights activist, Richard Akinola, who claimed the umbrella body for Nigerian lawyers has committed no crime in seeking and/or accepting financial and institutional government support for its events; however, they said it was only right and proper for the association to refund such money as it exculpate it from the moral burden its non-remittance could raise.
“The NBA did no wrong in seeking and/or accepting financial and institutional government support for its events. And l don’t think that in any way compromises its independence. While it may not be wrong to accept such support, on a matter of principle, it could refuse to seek such support.
“In respect of the current N300m support it got from the Fubara-led Rivers State government towards the hosting of its forthcoming annual conference, having decided on principle to shift the conference to another state, it is only right and just for the NBA to refund the money to the Rivers State government. Period. No amount of justification to hold on to the money could exculpate it from the moral burden of holding onto such money.”
*Ubani, others disagree
But another senior lawyer and public policy analyst, Monday Ubani, SAN, would disagree with Akinola, saying: “The funds were donated to the NBA as a contribution towards the upcoming conference and were not expressly tied to the choice of venue. NBA officials have stated this clearly, and I have no reason to doubt their position. There may be existing correspondence to that effect.”
Ubani added, “It is also not unusual for state governments to support conferences financially, even when such events are not hosted within their states. In this case, the higher amount donated may indeed have been influenced by the fact that the conference is scheduled to be held in Port Harcourt.”
On whether the NBA should refund the said money to the state government, Ubani asked: “Was the donation meant to be refunded? The NBA says no; the Sole Administrator says yes. Who should one believe? Perhaps, His Excellency Governor Fubara can offer the needed clarification.”
The Chairman of the NBA 2025 Conference Planning Committee, Emeka Obegolu (SAN), while responding, said the ₦300m was not a payment for hosting rights but an unconditional gift to support the event.
“The decision to hold the 2025 conference in Port Harcourt was made in August 2024 and was not based on any financial contribution from the Rivers State government,” he said in a statement.
He explained that the planning committee usually seeks financial support from various bodies due to the scale of the event but clarified that such contributions do not equate to hosting rights. “Even with such gifts, there is no representation that the conference must be held in the donor city,” he said.
Also, Mr Ben Uzuegbu, another SAN said, “My stand on it is a little bit radical and it goes like this; the government hat have NBA money is a legitimate government and he government that is asking for refund is an illegitimate government.”
He maintained, “You cannot take money from a legitimate government and give it to an illegitimate government. The concept about lawyers is the rule of law; so it tempted with the illegality of law and we cannot deal with it.
“Even if there will be any refund, NBA will wait until a legitimate government is in power. The man is just an armed robber that grabbed power and an armed robber cannot be calling when I am not under the nose of his gun to return money and I will return. It’s only when I am under the nose of his gun that he will say return money and I will return the money not willingly anyway.”
Uzuegbu explained, “The thing is that NBA is a corporate organisation. When they are hosting their conference, they go out to governments, corporate bodies, Individuals etc, asking them for assistance because it’s a very costly venture. Of course, it’s not mandatory that you just give something to them something but if you voluntarily give them a gift, that gift; that N300million is for all the lawyers in Nigeria to make their conference to be hitch free and enjoyable.*
“What is the man in Port Harcourt asking for a return of the money? Because of their low mentality, they misconceived it as a hosting right, no. You know what Port Harcourt has lost they know it. Go to Enugu now, all the hotels are booked; for that five days more than 20, 000 or 30, 000 lawyers will land in Enugu,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Enugu State government has expressed readiness to host the event. The chairperson of the state Tourism Board, Rita Mbah, assured lawyers of a “memorable and seamless experience” at the newly commissioned Enugu International Conference Centre.
Speaking on the development on Tuesday, Afolabi Olayiwola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said it was wrong for the emergency government of Vice Admiral Ibas tp ask for the refund of the money given to the NBA as gift by the suspended Governor Fubara.
He noted that, “A gift is a gift and you cannot collect it back because you have already been given. But if the money was attacked to a condition; that condition we are not aware but what the NBA is that it was a gift and therefore you cannot collect it back whole heartedly.”
According to Olayiwola, “The honest person who can ask for the money back is Fubara and he is the only person who can say oh this is the reason why I gave out the money. So, the other one (Sole Administrator) was not there and he is not in position; he is not a party to the gift and he can’t be talking about refund.”
He (Sole administrator) has no right because one, he is not a party; he was not there and he didn’t know the condition under which the money was given.”
