Distinguished Bar Leaders, Learned Silks, and Dear Colleagues,
OPENING STATEMENTS
In the last few days I have been inundated with calls from friends, colleagues and allies including Past National Officers and Senior Advocates, seeking my position on the recent letter authored and widely circulated on social media platforms by Caroline Ladidi Anze-Bishop, the National Treasurer of the Nigerian Bar Association.
The said letter dated 14th July, 2024 which was addressed to the Chairman of Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association is ordinarily presumed to be meant for the addressee’s consumption, but by leaking same to bloggers and widely sharing same on WhatsApp and other social media platforms, it is very clear that the intention was to embarrass those mentioned in the said letter.
Again, it was brought to my attention that the NBA Treasurer also wrote a similar letter to the Attorney General of the Federation. In both letters, the Treasurer consistently alleged among others albeit mischievously and ludicrously, that the General Secretary had hijacked her office. It is not in my character to engage in public bickering, hence, my initial resolve to ignore the Treasurer’s unsubstantiated peevish aspersions.
However, the repeated broadcast of the Treasurer’s false misrepresentation on social media which affects my credibility and my office as the General Secretary has made my response to the wrong accusations inevitable. To remain silent on the Treasurer’s false accusations especially as it bothers on issue of integrity may amount to acquiescence.
I must therefore resist an attempt by the Treasurer to taint my long cherished and valued personal life and work ethics. It is important that I make it very clear that the accusations by the Treasurer are unfounded, frivolous, mischievous and malicious.
While I will not dabble into whatever problem the Treasurer might have with the President, if any, but an attempt by her to impugn my character by alleging that only the President and the General Secretary have been running the financial transactions of the Association to the exclusion of the Treasurer is not only false but treacherous. I must state without equivocation that the Treasurer was being economical with the truth in her letter. The succeeding paragraphs here-below will reveal that the allegations in the Treasurer’s open petition are completely unfounded and lacking merit.
RESPONSE TO THE ALLEGATIONS
In direct response to the accusation and allegation of the Treasurer, it is imperative that I provide the following responses: Contrary to the immodest comparison by the Treasurer of her office to that of the General Secretary, the Treasurer does not have ‘concurrent jurisdiction’ as stated by her with the General Secretary. It is a good thing that she quoted verbatim the duties of General Secretary and those of the Treasurer in her widely circulated letters.
The provisions of the NBA Constitution are very clear on the hierarchy, functions and responsibilities of all National Executive Committee members, including the General Secretary and the Treasurer. However, the Constitution gives shared responsibility to the President, General Secretary and Treasurer in finance related matters only. Article 23(2) provides thus: “There shall be three principal signatories to the Association’s account namely; President, General Secretary and Treasurer, any two of whom may sign.”
The NBA Constitution further provides in Article 23(3) thus: “Without prejudice to the preceding sub-paragraph (2), the President shall be the final authority in respect of all electronic and other banking payments. Provided that all payments, electronic or not, shall be vetted and recommended for payment by the Treasurer and/or the General Secretary prior to the President’s approval and subsequent uploading (in the case of electronic payments) and payment authorization.”
It is naturally deductible therefore, that the Constitution envisages that the Treasurer and the General Secretary acting together, or either of them, can recommend a financial memo to the President. Further to the above, it must be stated that the practice over the years adopted by successive administrations has been that the General Secretary combines treatment of financial memos to his/her daily administrative responsibilities, in view of the constant presence of the General Secretary at the Secretariat.
The arrangement therefore, did not start with the current (outgoing) administration of the NBA. It is an approach adopted with the aim of reducing the running cost of the Association. Notwithstanding the foregoing, I can confirm that the Treasurer also recommends and has recommended several financial memos to the President in the course of our Administration.
The Treasurer had at various times between 2022 and 2023 stayed in Abuja for weeks, to treat financial memos, and even between January and February, 2024, she stayed in Abuja for a period of at least one month at a stretch while I was out of the country, to recommend financial memos to the President. The records are available at the Secretariat. I must add that financial memos are less than five percent (5%) of the documents I treat by virtue of my office on daily basis, yet I have never stayed in Abuja for a period of more than two (2) weeks at a stretch, no matter the circumstances.
The cost of maintaining National Officers in hotels in Abuja is humongous, hence the deliberate effort to regulate the trips of National Officers to Abuja, but the Treasurer will rather insist that she must be in Abuja at all times just like the General Secretary.
The Treasurer has severally displayed an attitude that shows that she was in competition with the office of the General Secretary. She began by questioning the size of the office allotted to the General Secretary and demanded that she deserves a similar office as well. Meanwhile, in order to ensure a conducive work space for the Treasurer, an office was set up and furnished for her in the Secretariat. In an apparent show of discontentment and an act of competition with the General Secretary, the Treasurer vacated the office allocated to her and brazingly moved into an office about the size of the General Secretary’s.
The said office was originally designated for the Executive Director, but since the NBA does not have a substantive Executive Director at the moment, the office was approved by the President for the 1st Vice President as her temporary office. Surprisingly, in a clear display of utter disrespect to the 1st Vice President, the Treasurer refused to vacate the office despite repeated demands by the 1st Vice President. That the Treasurer nursed a failed ambition to become General Secretary is a general knowledge. So, it has always been about the special interest in the office of the General Secretary.
Equally important is the fact that the Treasurer is the National Officer that is most sufficiently equipped by the Secretariat with facilities to discharge her official duties. She is the only National Officer that the NBA purchased a brand new laptop for at her request, to enable her discharge her official duties seamlessly. Not even the General Secretary got such a benefit. I have since inception been using my personal laptop and even bought a Hp tablet with my personal money to aid my work as General Secretary.
I have even had to repair my laptop on three (3) different occasions at huge personal cost when it crashed in the course of using it for NBA work. Personally, I consider this a sacrifice for the Association. The Treasurer by virtue of her office is saddled with the responsibility of supervising the finance department of the Association, therefore, every financial transaction of the Association should be at the Treasurer’s fingertips.
The trio of the President, the General Secretary and the Treasurer have unhindered access to all the Association’s accounts with Access Bank Plc, through the online banking platform (Primus). It is therefore uncharitable for the Treasurer to allege that she does not know anything about the Association’s finances. Needless to add that the Treasurer is supposed to act as the Association’s internal auditor who should monitor and report the financial activities of the Association to the appropriate bodies namely; the National Executive Committee, National Executive Council and Annual General Meeting.
I cannot find any provision of the NBA Constitution that provides that the Treasurer MUST have been recommending financial memos before she will be able to discharge other responsibilities specifically imposed on her by the Constitution in Article 9 (5) (g). Curiously, the Treasurer simply focused on recommendation of financial memos to the President which the NBA Constitution also empowers the General Secretary to do, amongst numerous duties of the Treasurer.
Our members should ask what happens to the actual duties of the Treasurer as listed in Article 9 (5) (g) i- xiii of the NBA Constitution.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is imperative that I put it on record that I chose to serve our great Association at this time as the General Secretary, having previously served as the Welfare Secretary of the Association between 2016 to 2018, simply to further advance my services to our dear Association. That I was elected with overwhelming popular votes is a testament of our members’ confidence in my capacity and integrity.
I will therefore not condone any attempt to cast aspersion on my person. Once again, whatever financial memo I treated in the course of this administration were so treated in accordance with the provision of the NBA Constitution that empowers me to do so. Therefore, I did not hijack the duties of the Treasurer, just as the President did not convert me to the Association’s actual Treasurer as was mischievously and maliciously alleged by the Treasurer.
Fundamentally, recommending a financial memo is not even listed as a specific duty of the Treasurer under Article 9 (5) ( i- xiii) of the NBA Constitution, rather it is a responsibility saddled by the Constitution on both the Treasurer and the General Secretary acting together or either of them, subject to convenience. See Article 23 (3) of the NBA Constitution 2015 (as amended in 2021).
As I earlier stated in the opening statement, I would not have dignified the Treasurer’s claim with a response, but for the reason that the allegation bothers on the issue of integrity, it is important for me to clear the air and set the record straight for the sake of posterity.
In view of the innuendo in the Treasurer’s letter or petition, I must close this rejoinder by emphatically stating that I have not taken any pecuniary benefit by virtue of my office as General Secretary, neither have I through any memo recommended by me in the last two years taken any personal benefit from the Association, conversely, it is the NBA that owes me outstanding refund. My oath of office and my pledge to serve with humility, dedication and integrity remains sacrosanct.
Adesina Adegbite, FICMC, MCIArb
General Secretary.
(29/07/2024)
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Rejoinder To NBA Treasurer Name Calling on Social Media
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