“OPEN LETTER TO MAAZI AFAM OSIGWE, SAN: THIS ELECTION COULD BE THE LAST FOR THE NBA, TRY AND IMITATE, DR. GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN-YOUR AMBITION IS NOT WORTH THE DESTRUCTION OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION-NBA (COPY THE EXAMPLE OF Dr. CHIEF RICHARD OMA AHONARUOGHO, SAN, AVOID THE EXAMPLE OF MELA AUDU NUNGHE)”.
By Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, Senior Counsel of Nigeria-SCN.
Dear Maazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, President of the Nigerian Bar Association-NBA, Sir,
Pride, ego and hubris are vices that have misled many leaders into destroying and defacing all the previous good work and legacy that they have built.
You stand at a cross-roads and at a very pivotal point in the history of the Nigerian legal profession and your decision could make or mar the corporate existence of the Nigerian Bar Association-NBA!!!
Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2010 to 2015) is a worthy example of a leader who made a conscious decision to allow peace to prevail at the cost of his own personal preference for holding on to power.
Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan had the option of deployment of both the financial resources and instruments of powers of government at his disposal to perpetuate himself in office.
However, he made a conscious decision to resist the temptation.
He is now remembered in history for his statement: “My personal ambition to continue as President of Nigeria, is not worth the spilling of the blood of any Nigerian”.
You face a similar challenge.
With the exception of Olumide Akpata, it is an open secret amongst Nigerian lawyers, that there is an unwritten rule that every NBA President has a major role in the selection of whomever becomes their successor.
Both your supporters and your personal pride, hubris and ego are egging you to continue with this unwritten rule regardless of whether it violates and offends the sensibilities of the majority of the electorate of the Nigerian Bar Association-NBA.
In the usual parlance of Nigerian lawyers, they keep telling you: “THE HEAVENS WILL NOT FALL”.
After all, Maazi Afam Osigwe SAN is not the first NBA President that ensures that he influenced the outcome of the election that produced his successor.
The problem is that the previous NBA Presidents did it quietly and behind-the-scenes.
However, Maazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, has done his own openly, both by words and actions.
Which violates the well known legal maxim: “justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done”!!!.
The election of Olumide Akpata, remains the golden standard and litmus test for NBA elections. See the report.
https://www.thecable.ng/nba-election-olumide-akpata-leading-by-a-wide-margin-as-voting-ends/
To conclude, Dr. Richard Oma Ahonaruogho, SAN is a worthy example to imitate. This is a lawyer that holds a legitimate certificate of incorporation of the Law Society of Nigeria (LSN) as validly issued by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) since the year 1994.
Instead of deploying the said certificate of incorporation to create a parallel Bar Association in Nigeria as a means of cashing in on the crisis within the NBA that occurred in the year 1992, he has exercised restraint!!!
Mela Nunghe, unlike Dr. Richard Oma Ahonaruogho, SAN,
and contrary to such exercise of restraint and respect for the provisions of the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962 which recognises the NBA as the one-and-only Bar association for all litigation, has since the year 2023 been at the forefront of lawsuits against the NBA.
Mela Nunghe’s unbridled personal pride, hubris and lack of respect for the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962 has led him to continue to fraudulently parade himself as President of the Nigerian Law Society even though he was disqualified from contesting for the said office in the July 2025 elections.
Even though he deposed to an affidavit at the Federal High Court Abuja that he is not the President.
It is for this reason that he was expelled by the new Nigerian Law Society (NLS) which was issued it’s certificate of registration dated 30th December 2025 and which is not in any form of opposition against the NBA.
The new Nigerian Law Society (NLS) is an umbrella association of non-litigation Nigerian lawyers who are specialists in all the non-litigation areas of legal practice such as legislative drafting, arbitration, conciliation and mediation, just to mention a few.
On this note, I rest my case!!!
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, SCN,
Executive Director, Nigerian Law Society (NLS)
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+26662878829
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