New NBA President, Mrs Badejo-Okusanya.
Howsoever it ends, the association must confront with bold transparency the duty to continuously improve the administration of its leadership processes. It must also understand that failure to do so will endanger its commitment to promoting the rule of law. This is not an option as the country confronts a bumpy election year in 2027.
The history of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has travelled a path that parallels the political evolution of the country. It began in 1900, the same year in which the government of Queen Victoria assumed formal authority over the country after revoking the Royal Charter of Taubman Goldie’s Royal Niger Company.
For the next 59 years, leadership of the NBA was a lifetime preferment. Christopher Sapara Williams became Nigeria’s first lawyer in 1888. Some 12 years later, he emerged as the first chairman of the national bar. Sapara Williams served in that role until his untimely death in 1915. His successor was acclaimed colonial collaborator, Sir Kitoye Ajasa. Like Sapara Williams, Sir Ajasa served until his death in 1937. He holds the record as the longest serving national leader of the NBA.
Olawolu Eric Moore succeeded to the role until his death in 1944. Eric James Alex Taylor – whose son, John Idowu Conrad, would later become the founding Chief Justice of Lagos – followed and died in that position in 1950. His successor, Adeyemo Alakija did the same in 1952. Alhaji Jubril Martins, the sixth chairman of Nigeria’s national bar died in June 1959.
