Mr. Emmanuel Haruna has been elected chairman of the interim executive committee of the Middle Belt Lawyers Forum (MBLF) while Mr. Elachi Agada will serve as Secretary of the new group.

Their election follows the inaugural meeting of the organisation on October 19, this year at the Nostalgla Hotel and Suites, Lokoja, Kogi State.

A communiqué by the group after their meeting reads in part: "That there be established a body to be called Middle Belt Lawyers Forum. This forum shall be open to lawyers who are from all states in the middle-belt zone. The states are, Kwara, Benue, FCT, Abuja, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau states. That the forum is established as a group within the Nigerian Bar Association with the objective of promoting and pursuing the welfare and collective interest of the forum."

It added: "That the forum shall have a council of elders, which shall comprise the following: All Attorneys-General of the respective states, all Senior Advocates of Nigeria from the member-states, all members of the body of benchers from the member states, and one senior member of the bar elected/nominated from each state and the FCT. That the forum as established shall have a body referred to as the general council I which shall be the representative council for all lawyers from the relevant states and the FCT.

"That the general council shall be constituted as follows: all members of the interim executive of the forum, all members of the council of elders of the forum, all chairman and secretaries of branches within the forum, all members of the NEC of the NBA from each state and the FCT in the forum, and five members elected/nominated from each branch within the forum. Where a branch/state hosts a meeting of the forum, 10 members of the branch /state shall be nominated to and allowed to attend the meeting of the forum as observers.

"That an interim executive committee be constituted to, among other things, do the following: run all the affairs of the forum, prepare a constitution for the forum, register the forum, conduct elections for a substantive leadership of the forum. The interim committee shall have a period of three years on the path of growth."

Other executive are: First Vice Chairman, S.P. Dashi; Assistant Secretary, Shuaibu Yakubu; Welfare Secretary, Joshua Wepdiyel; Legal Adviser, Debo Adeyemo and ex-officio-Prof M. A. Akanbi.