By Innocent Anaba
Former President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, Mrs. Boma Alabi, SAN, has called for greater internal democracy in the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, elections, insisting that the time has come for members to freely elect their leaders without undue influence from regional blocs.
Alabi, who is also the immediate past Chairman of the NBA Section on Legal Practice, stated this during a media parley with law editors ahead of the NBA national officers’ election scheduled for July 18.
The senior lawyer, who was the first female lawyer and first Black person to be elected President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, said the practice of regional forums adopting candidates had outlived its usefulness.
According to her, such endorsements tend to divide rather than unite members of the association.“The truth is this practice belongs in the dark ages, not in 2026. Adoption by regional fora may have had some utility in the past, but in today’s NBA, it has become more divisive than unifying,” she said.
