Olu Akpata’s NBA: Hobbled and ineffective

The excitement that heralded the emergence of my friend and brother Olu Akpata to the leadership of the NBA seems to have fizzled out almost the following week after his inauguration.

Some of us who are independent observers yearning for the glorious past of the NBA where it stood firmly as the bulwark between the people and a marauding and majorly mad train of military despots in the 80s and 90s quickly threw in our support for Mr Akpata.

His youth and almost perfect vision made us believe that the vibrancy of the body would be rekindled and it will now take its pride of place as we struggle to find our feet in this country.

His aristocratic and bourgeois background and outlook sending a red flag to us didn’t stop us from throwing our weight and prayers behind him.

Sadly since his emergence, the body has almost gone comatose with infighting and almost paedophilic divisions rendering it mostly ineffective and almost useless in the face of the worse kind of human rights violations and insecurity in none military times۔

His administration has been one of issuing hollow and cowardly penned statements that are at best ignored, leading to a continuous stampede on the people and the desecration of the judiciary and its practitioners.

Olu as NBA president is watching on the sidelines as people are choked in court, elder statemen are not allowed in court, people who get bail are rearrested at the door, people are kept in detention for days simply because they made simple phone calls at the wrong time to the wrong people.

Olu is sitting in his pretty office swinging champagne and coffee while lawyers are being beaten up in the course of their duties and pushed out of government enforcement agencies while the common man is being trampled upon.

I had hoped for an Alao Aka Basorun type administration or a Bola Ajibola type of engagement. Those were the glory days of the NBA. This was when the NBA was a powerful force that even the ruthless military despots of the time feared it.

Today, the NBA is looking like a girl guides subsidiary. Totally toothless and subdued, rendered ineffective by a toddler type of leadership. A leadership that does not have the capacity and experience to grapple with its internal issues much less of fashioning out a robust approach to the recklessness that is presidential power.

The statement issued by Mr Akpata on the back of the attack on Justice Mary Odili is a clear example of his ineffectiveness

Asking to pay a courtesy call like a visiting diplomat to the attorney-general is the worst kind of playing to the gallery I can imagine.

The man has already said he doesn’t know what happened. So going to visit him is a waste of transport money and time — or what do we expect? For him to say,’Ohh I forgot, I actually now know what happened?’

The judiciary is a very important part of the democratic process and as we match towards 2023, everything must be done to strengthen it and get it ready for the pivotal role it will play.

This incident, if not properly handled, will weaken the bench, making it look like a drunk thrown into the boxing ring and it behoves on Mr Akpata’s NBA to do everything within its powers to protect it and strengthen it.

One would expect a more drastic reaction from the NBA. A strong call for the resignation of some figures jn authority, a downing of tools independently and a human ring built around the offices of the attorney-general until we get to the bottom of this.

This is not the time to issue statements that will rehash the incident and seek for appointment.

That statement is a joke and laughable, symbolising the kind of leadership the NBA is saddled with right now.

Gani Fawehinmi will be shifting in his grave right now.

Sad.