Joseph Daudu: NBA needs a leader with tested ability

Joseph Daudu, a former president of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has thrown his weight behind the candidacy of Dele Adesina for the election into the office of NBA president.

Daudu, who presided over the bar between 2010 and 2012, says his decision to support Adesina is because the association “needs a leader with tested ability to lead learned colleagues acquired from the grassroots.”

He urged members of the bar across the nation to elect him overwhelmingly on the account of his “experience, integrity and maturity”.

In his two-page statement, NBA’s former president admitted that the bar is divided between the leadership rank of senior advocates and non-senior advocates among other criteria or factors at least for the office of president.

He, also, acknowledged that the bar “is embroiled in a crisis of sort with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). The beneficiaries of the legal economy emanating from the CAC are largely the exclusive preserve of young lawyers.

“It will take the maturity and experience of a tested leader such as Deacon Dele Adesina (SAN) to resolve this and several other issues confronting lawyers and Nigeria as a nation,” he said in the statement.

“I have read the manifestos of all the presidential candidates in this election and in my humble view, only Dele Adesina SAN proffers reasonable solutions to the myriad of problems listed above.

“The Nigerian Bar again has a unique opportunity to right its keeling ship of state with this impending election. If however the wrong hands are brought on Board, the ship will no doubt sink and disappear under water. Whether it can then be salvaged, or a new ship procured will be a matter for another discussion. In summary, experience and reliability cannot be ignored in this election.

“It is to our peril that we allow factors such as sectionalism, ethnic sentiments, parochialism, petty hatred of competent candidates to govern our choice for Presidency and other National Officers of the Bar.

“Let us put our hands together and bring on board, the man of the moment, the man who can effortlessly deliver the goods, the man- Dele Adesina SAN. I endorse him for the office of President Nigerian Bar Association.”