Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports.
Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu revealed yesterday in Abuja that he once imagined himself as Nigeria’s alternate president.
Senior Advocate of Nigeria Akeredolu spoke at the commissioning ceremony for two NBA institutes in Abuja.
While one wing of the building houses the NBA Human Rights Institute, NBA-HRI, which was named after Akeredolu, the legal body’s president from 2008 to 2010, the second wing, which houses the NBA Continuing Legal Education, NBA-ICLE, was named after Folake Solanke, the country’s first female SAN.
Speaking on the matter, Akeredolu stated that as NBA president, he made it a point to confront the government on any policy that would have a negative impact on citizens.
He stated that while the late former President Umaru Yar’Adua was in charge of the country’s affairs, the NBA, under his leadership, ensured that the issue of protecting human rights and promoting the rule of law was always at the forefront.
“We kept the fire burning and the pressure on even during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure.” In fact, I saw myself as the country’s alternate President as President of the Bar. The presidency of the Bar is not to be taken lightly. “You are the voice of the people, and when you speak, you speak authoritatively,” he said.
He recalled that when he was elected NBA President unopposed, the organization had no office structure in Abuja, prompting him to purchase the building where the two institutes are now housed.
“I must give credit to my predecessor, J. B. Daudu, SAN, who ensured that this building was commissioned in 2012 after I left office in 2010,” he says.
“Until the current NBA President, Akpata, came to me and showed me pictures, I had no idea the structure had been abandoned.”
Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, who commissioned the two Institutes, stated in his remarks that the NBA was required to sustain the legal profession’s capacity to play an active role in the country’s socioeconomic development.
“Our nation requires a well-informed legal profession to assist in providing solutions to the nation’s myriad of problems.”
Meanwhile, earlier in her remarks, Solanke, the country’s first female lawyer to achieve the rank of SAN, as well as the first female Commissioner of the Western Region, expressed concern about current events in the country.
