Barely two months into the administration of Augustine Alegeh (SAN), Dame Carol Ajie, a lawyer, has asked members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to impeach him.
In a notice of impeachment dated November 4 and addressed to Alegeh for the attention of the executive members of NBA, Ajie said: “At the National Executive Committee meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association, holding on 12th to 14th of November, 2014, in Le’Meridien Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, members of NBA-NEC will consider and or move to pass a vote of no confidence in Mr. Augustine Oyarekhua Alegeh (SAN) as encapsulated in the NBA constitution and the Second Schedule to the Standing Orders and the inherent powers vested in NEC-NBA.”
But reacting to the development, the NBA president dismissed the impeachment threat, saying Ajie lacked the legal standing to embark on the move.
Citing Article 12(i) of NBA Constitution, the petitioner said Alegeh was disqualified from running as president of the body of lawyers for allegedly underwriting the travel and lodging expenses of delegates who voted at the last national elections of the association.
She said: “Following Mr. Alegeh’s election at the biennial delegates conference in Abuja on Tuesday, 15th July, 2014, his inauguration held on Friday, 29th August, 2014 at the Annual General Conference, Owerri wherein he admitted barefaced breach of Article 12(i) of the NBA constitution, at page 4 of his written speech to the effect that he was ‘compelled to provide accommodation and logistic needs for the delegates in a manner that may compromise the decision-making process of the candidates.’”
Based on the claim, she insisted, “Alegeh, SAN has evidently lost the moral and legal authority to be president of the Nigerian Bar Association.”
Ajie also accused the NBA boss of usurping the powers and functions of the NEC of the association by unilaterally constituting the standing and ad hoc committees of the organisation and appointing NBA representatives into statutory bodies.
Besides being intolerant of opposition, she alleged, Alegeh had failed to work with members of his team to fix “reasonable fees” for lawyers’ stamp and seal.
Ajie claimed that since assuming the presidency, the NBA boss had paid different unexplained visits to public office holders in the name of the organisation. The development, she said, was out of tune with the association’s constitution.
Flaying the NBA president for failing to produce free identity cards for lawyers who had paid their annual practising fees, the petitioner said Alegeh also neglected to ensure legal practitioners benefitted from “discounted air fares, hotel rates”, among other offers, made by partners of the association.
Alegeh, she added, had failed to relate with the African Bar Association (ABA) and the International Bar Association (IBA) in breach of Article 4(k) of the NBA Constitution.
She also alleged that the NBA president recently spent the funds of the organisation on hosting 500 guests at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja after the swearing-in ceremony of new Senior Advocates of Nigeria without recourse the the organisation’s NEC.
Ajie urged NBA executive members to pass a resolution sacking the NBA boss and “replacing Mr. A. O. Alegeh, SAN forthwith by appointing a suitable person to the office of the president from the list of candidates presented at the July 15, 2014 biennial delegates election in Abuja in order of ascension of votes, that is to say Adesina SAN, Adekoya SAN, Akintola SAN and Erhabor Esq.”
But speaking with Daily Sun on Ajie’s petition, Alegeh said she was not a member of the NEC of NBA and as such, lacked the authority to seek his removal from office.
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