THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION AND NIGERIA'S 2023 ELECTION

Lawyers in Nigeria have from the beginning of the country played very crucial roles. The first Premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his successor, Chief Ladoke Akintola, as well as Chief TOS Benson and many others were in the forefront of politics and governance. That should not be a surprise, lawyers help to write constitutions and laws and argue them in court. So, any gathering of lawyers especially one that coincide with an election cycle is a clear opportunity for politicians to showcase themselves and their programmes. When the Nigerian Bar Association held its annual conference recently, though election of its chairman is foremost on the agenda, the Bar Association deemed it fit to invite the presidential candidates of the major parties to present their ideas on how they want to turn the economy of the nation around. The NBA couldn't but do that; the economy of the nation is comatose, its unity is clearly on the brink, having being mismanaged by President Muhammadu Buhari whose only desire is his Fulani ethnicity. Nigeria has virtually become unlivable because of constant kidnapping for ransom in every part of the country.

Important for reaching out to the cross-section of Nigerians as the conference is, the perceived frontrunner and controversial candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not attend. He sent his running mate, Kashim Shettima to represent him at the conference. It was the candidacy of Shettima that made Bola Tinubu controversial. Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima are Muslims and such a ticket has brought not a small anger to the Christian community who felt the ticket has rubbished their faith. Some think the absence of Tinubu was to avoid speaking on the ticket. Others say it was because Bola Tinubu was meeting with Nyesom Wike, governor of oil rich Rivers State who is angry with his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, for refusing to pick him as running mate despite that a committee that Atiku himself set up had nominated him ahead of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state, the man eventually picked by Atiku. Wike is thus threatening to work against the PDP in the election. I think, PDP believes that Wike can bring the house down by the way the party is making overtures to him.

Tinubu's absence from the meeting and his alleged meeting with Wike in far away Paris is explained in terms of typical Nigerian preference for winning elections without care for the welfare of the people. If they could get the attention of key leaders who know how to hoodwink their people, then reeling out statistics of their welfare or the state of the economy matters nothing. When they mount the soapbox they will always tell lies which they don't plan to implement. That is why it is a lie, anyway. Their strong reliance is on their money. Whether at the polling booth or away from it, whether transmission of election result or not, ten thousand naira bribe for each voter will give them victory and later they can plan to get their money back in multiples when they get into power. I think the PDP fear Nyesom Wike has that power aplenty.

When Obi entered into the conference hall, it erupted in a wild applause so much that a lawyer that attended said he had never witnessed such a thing before among men and women of the "noble profession". Whether the legal profession in Nigeria is still noble is being questioned. Obi, first and foremost, endorsed the nobility of the legal profession, whether to further rein in their support or to genuinely affirm their help, when he said but for two of them who were Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), he would not have been standing before them. The two helped him to recover his mandate in court when crudely and illegally, he was impeached as governor of Anambra State. Obi told the cheering audience, "and I did not give one naira to anybody, so when people talk of unprofessionalism in the legal profession, I take an exception." Obi was calculating, he got more ovation. But outside of that hall, it is doubtful if many Nigerians will be impressed, as many think justice has become a "cash and carry affair". Obi knows that character issue has become paramount in Nigeria's public life and has therefore not spared any opportunity to drum in what will impress Nigerians more about his impeaccable character. Some commentators have been puncturing holes into some of his claims, some of them from his Igbo ethnicity. At the end of his presentation, Obi again got an ovation. The conference declared him the best speaker with the best idea which according to reports made Atiku Abubakar and Kashim Shettima walk out of the hall.

Whether Obi's acclamation will translate into votes is not known yet, going by the character of elections in Nigeria and the known antics of the political warlords in the race. Shettima's outing was especially intriguing. Response to Shettima was reflective of usual southern disdain for anything North. An adept supporter of Tinubu said in all honesty he was not expecting anything from Shettima, he was surprised that the man was sound. And yet this is a man that earned a Masters degree in Agricultural Economics from University of Ibadan, the nation's premier university and had worked in a bank and had been governor of Borno State twice. Shettima appears to have caught the bug of the moment, the razzmatazz of statistics which Obi seem to have dazzled Nigerians with. Shettima unfolded his statistics with the security issue in Nigeria. He used the 1970, when the civil war ended as his base year and gave the figure of the number of soldiers in the army then. Comparing that with the number available now, Shettima concluded that the military is underfunded and because he was governor of the war-torn Borno State twice, he felt his experience has placed him in a vantage position to handle security while his principal will devote his attention to economic issue where he has dexterity as he had displayed in Lagos.

But Shettima did not tell his audience what role corruption played in the handling of even the budget that is allocated to the military and how the top personel of the military are appointed. A retired general told this reporter that Nigeria's current military lack discipline. Commentators think this lack of discipline and tribal consideration in the appointment of top cadre is the main reason for the weakness of the military. Recently the rag-tag bandits ambushed and attacked officers and soldiers of elite Brigade of Guards on patrol in Bwari-Kubwa, Abuja, where two officers and some soldiers of the 7th Brigade of Guards were killed. The bandits also attacked Kuje Correctional Custodial Centre where over 600 bandits and Boko Haram members were set free.

However, Shettima's message did not resonate with some Nigerians, especially the social media crowd, instead what interests commentators most is the dressing of Shettima. Shettima wore a suit as other presidential candidates. They were attending a lawyers conference and everybody felt they must be dressed up in suits, even as some Nigerians are questioning why our lawyers and judges have continued in that British tradition of wig and gown when Nigeria secured her independence from Britain back in 1960. Yet Shettima was more criticised for his dressing than the content of his brain. Some thought he should not wear a snickers with a suit. A radio commentator said he breached protocol, that he could not go to the United Nations attired like he did in that lawyers conference. Others rose to his defence saying snickers with suit is the fashion trend now. It is amazing that many Nigerians are still suffering from colonial overhang. Are they going to elect him as vice president of the United Nations?

The clear message of the conference is that the Tinubu- Shettima ticket has much to do to shore up its image. If Nigerians are not talking about the perceived ill-health of Tinubu, they are criticising the dress style of Shettima. Dele Alake, Tinubu's commissioner for strategy and communication when he was governor of Lagos, has been speaking on TVC owned by Tinubu, on the performance of his principal in Lagos. He was said to have been hired to do this image laundering from Philadelphia in the United States where he's reportedly receiving medical attention. Many believe that Dele Alake will bring his rich experience and oratorical prowess to bear on the Tinubu-Shettima communication team, and is perceived to have more clout to shore up the low perception and image defecit of the Tinubu- Shettima ticket. Dele Alake is expected to add pep and bring more gravitas to the current publicity team.

Tunde Akande is both a journalist and pastor. He earned a Masters degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos.