Be Vanguards Of Transformation …Amaechi Tells NBA

Rivers State Governor Rt Hon. Chibuike Amaechi has called on the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) to lead the light in national transformation.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the annual conference of the association  in Port Harcourt, the Governor said the body should be the beacon and hope of the common man.

He said the association should commence a stock-taking exercise of its activities by dropping some of its elitist postures as some of the brazen disregard for the rule of law in the country was done because the body failed to live up to  expectation as the defender of rights of the citizenry.

He remarked,”an administration gets  the kind of Bar it deserves. Where was the Bar in the last democratic dispensation, when members of the Bar where churning out laws that were undemocratic and you were not doing anything. Where was the Bar when presidents were disobeying court orders and you did nothing?”

Governor Amaechi cautioned that some of the demands made by the NBA President, Joseph Daudu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN) were extreme and may lead to anarchy if carried out.

The Rivers State Governor said that the country’s problems stem from the inability to practise true federalism.

He urged lawyers to champion the independence of the judiciary, noting that states should be allowed to appoint their own chief judges without undue federal interference.

He challenged the body to fight for an equitable economic system, emphasizing that the rule of law would not be achieved if corruption subsists and the gap between the rich and poor is not addressed, “We must  face the realities of the time, NBA is not in an institution for the poor. NBA is an institution for the rich”,he added.

Earlier in his remarks, President of the NBA, Barrister Dauda thanked the Governor and people of the state for their hospitality.

Daudu commended Governor Amaechi for his developmental strides pointing out that the administration has displayed clear vision in transforming the state as he urged members to use the opportunity to visit some of the projects.

He stated that the annual conference of the body provides an avenue for the association to review its activities, the state of the nation and set fresh agenda for the future.