There are intense arguments and ill-feelings among lawyers under the aegis of Ilorin Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) over disqualification of their ex-Chairman, Rafiu Balogun, from the contest at the just concluded national election of the association, National Pilot yesterday gathered.

Balogun was disqualified on the grounds that he had sued Ilorin NBA branch, our reporter learnt.

This medium gathered that Balogun, who was to vie for the position of National Legal Adviser at the NBA national election held in Abuja on Tuesday, was allegedly disqualified on the grounds of a petition written by the incumbent Chairman, Mobolaji Ojibara.

The lawyers’ association in Ilorin, the state capital, is polarised over the disqualification as legal practitioners were divided over the “interest-lines.”

While some lawyers were displeased with the ‘petition’, others believed it was in the ‘right’ direction.

Some of the aggrieved lawyers had taken to the social media condemning the grounds of the ‘petition’ even as Ojibara told National Pilot that he had not written on the grounds that Balogun should be disqualified.

The Ilorin NBA Chairman, who denied that he wrote a petition, said he “merely wrote a letter to the President of NBA, Okey Wali, on his request for explanation on happenings in Ilorin bar.”

He explained: “The National President talked to me on some issues flaying around that a state of emergency has been declared on Ilorin NBA branch and I explained to him what was happening, but he requested me to put it into writing.

‘’So, what I did was to write to the president on what was happening in my branch, which is that the R.O Balogun-led immediate past executive council members had sued the branch.

“In addition, I also attached copies of the writs to the letter. And if this is what the electoral committee found to be enough reasons to have disqualified RO Balogun, it’s not the wish of the branch to have him disqualified

“I merely wrote the letter on happenings in my branch on the request of the president. So, it’s not me that said R.O Balogun should be disqualified. I couldn’t have said that because I am not a member of the Electoral Committee.

‘’I’m merely chairman of a branch. Of course, the Electoral Committee Chairman or any member of the committee doesn’t take instructions from me, so I could not have told them to disqualify R.O Balogun.”

However, Balogun in a telephone chat with National Pilot yesterday argued that though there was ongoing amendment to the NBA’s constitution to deter a member from taking the association to the court, but it had not taken effect.

“I was unlawfully excluded from the contest,” Balogun said, adding that he’s consulting his branch leaders on the next-line of action.

He said: “The only issue raised was that I sued NBA and I said we didn’t sue NBA rather a committee set up on the right to the fair hearing. And there is nothing on the guidelines of the election that when you sue NBA you cannot contest.

‘’Also, there is ongoing amendment to the constitution, which the delegates voted that once you sue NBA you will not able to contest again but that has not taken effect.

‘’ So, I was just unlawfully excluded from the election. Now, I have my leaders in the branch and am consulting them, but really, I was short-changed.”      

Ojibara when asked whether the branch executive members endorsed the letter or not, said: “Do you remember I’m the chairman of this branch of the association? Now, would you say because of the fact that the house has not endorsed this interview I shouldn’t have done it? That’s exactly the way it is.

‘’When people ask me questions about my association, I should be able to give them answers without necessarily asking for any permission. When the President asked me about the situation in the branch; I don’t need to get permission of the congress before taking to the president about what’s going on in the branch.”