Remove Okutepa SAN From Body Of Benchers – NBA President Petitions LPDC, BoB — “I Am Not Afraid Of Your Manipulations” – Okutepa SAN Fires Back

The simmering tensions within Nigerian Bar Association, have erupted into a full-blown confrontation, as Senior Advocate of Nigeria, J.S. Okutepa, SAN, openly accused the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Josiah Osigwe, SAN, of orchestrating a calculated attempt to intimidate and silence him through institutional channels.

The dispute, which has rapidly gained traction across the Bar, stems from a petition reportedly filed by the NBA President before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee and the Body of Benchers against Okutepa over his role as lead counsel in suits challenging the controversial composition of the NBA’s Electoral Committee.

But in a forceful and uncompromising response, Okutepa dismissed the petition as a misuse of disciplinary mechanisms, insisting that his decision to represent clients in court cannot, under any stretch of legal reasoning, amount to professional misconduct. He maintained that the move was not about ethics, but about power—and the attempt to deploy that power against dissenting voices.

He did not mince words.

Declaring that he remains unmoved by what he described as calculated pressure tactics, Okutepa stated emphatically that he is “not afraid” of any manipulations, whether subtle or overt. According to him, the petition is merely the latest in a pattern of using institutional processes to target those who challenge authority within the Bar.

The senior advocate further alleged that the matter goes beyond the petition itself. He claimed that efforts were made, behind the scenes, to influence his removal from the Body of Benchers, despite what he described as a meritorious appointment and a record of commendable service. To him, such actions amount to a troubling abuse of office and a dangerous precedent for the profession.

At the centre of the legal battle are two suits currently pending before the High Court of Justice of Oyo State, where the legality of the ECNBA’s composition is being contested. Okutepa argued that, as a party to the suits, the NBA President ought to allow the courts to determine the issues rather than resort to what he termed extra-judicial interference.

He stressed that once a dispute has been submitted to the judiciary, it is a fundamental principle that parties refrain from taking steps capable of undermining the integrity of the proceedings. Any deviation from this, he suggested, raises serious ethical concerns.

Despite the mounting pressure, Okutepa’s stance remains resolute. Rather than retreat, he has doubled down on his commitment to the cases, asserting that no amount of intimidation will deter him from pursuing what he believes to be a just cause. If anything, he said, the petition has only reinforced his determination.

READ OKUTEPA’S FULL RESPONSE:

It has come to my knowledge that the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Afam Josiah Osigwe, SAN has written petition against me to the Hon Body of Benchers and or the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee of the Body of Benchers. I am yet to be served with copy of the petition. But before his petition is served on me, he has found me guilty already. He filed petition against me because in his misconcieved view, it is professional misconduct to accept to be lead counsel in the two cases filed against his unconstitutional composition of ECNBA.
The President of NBA has chosen LPDC as a weapon against me as the lead counsel in a case he is a party. I am not surprised. He was part and parcel of the NBA regime that engineered petitions to LPDC against those who disagreed with them in 2015 or so. I was the Chief Prosecutor of NBA at LPDC then. I refused to be used. I know this very well. I am not surprised about his current antics. Weaponisation of petitions against those who disagreed with them has been their stock in trade in abuse of process. I am waiting to be served with his petition.

His grouse as I understand it, is based on his misconceived view, that I committed professional misconduct for accepting to act as lead counsel in the two cases filed against the Incorporated Trustees of NBA and Ors which cases are currently pending before the High Court of Justice of Oyo State sitting in Ibadan. NBA president is not just a lawyer, he is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He knows the law. He is a party in those two suits and I am a lead counsel in the two cases.

NBA President did not stop at just filing the petition against me and the 1st Claimant in one of the cases, but in the most unfortunate abuse of power and corrupt use of office and power, Mr. Osigwe SAN proceeded to use his office and position to lobby those who have responsibilities to educate him not to do so, to cause my name to be removed from the list of those to be re-appointed as members of the Body of Benchers.

It is important to note, that I did not become a member of the Hon Body of Benchers through NBA. I became a member of the Body in 2023 because the Hon Body of Benchers considered me as an eminent legal practitioner and I was appointed under Section 3(1)(l) of LPA 2004 as amended. NBA President in abuse of power, used his position in concert with those who do not mean well for the legal profession to engineer the non-inclusion of my name for renewal of my membership of the Body of Benchers even though I had excellent reports of good performances as a member of the Body of Benchers.

It is sad that NBA president does not know that his petition constitutes direct affront and interference with pending litigation against his very unconstitutional hand picking and constitution of ECNBA which is one of the issues submitted for judicial determination. The President of NBA is a party in these two cases. NBA president should know that being a party, he cannot take extra judicial steps as he did. When parties have turned over their disputes to courts for adjudication, none of the parties is allowed to take extra judicial steps in sabotage of the pending process. This is an elementary principle that I think NBA president should know.

As President of the Bar, Mr. Osigwe SAN should note that he cannot intimidate me from pursuing a cause I know is rooted in justice and good cause. NBA president should know that it is unethical and unacceptable to use his position as President of NBA to pursue personal vendetta against me for taking up cases that complained against his whimsical, autocratic and despotic constitution of ECNBA. His references to me in the petition as being present in the Benin NEC meeting should be a pointer to him that no amount of panel-beating of the minutes of the meeting held in Benin can erase the eye witness accounts of what we saw him do at the Benin NEC.

Let me use this medium to inform Mr. President of the NBA that I am a legal practitioner and a trained advocate to practice law and no amount of intimidation including his underground interference with the renewal of my membership of the Hon Body of Benchers, can stop me from acting as lead counsel in the two cases against his handpicked ECNBA. I am happy NBA President Mr. Osigwe SAN petitioned me. I will rather pursue truth with courage than to be tolerantly dishonest about the truth of the unconstitutional manner the ECNBA was constituted by him. The matters before the court raised fundamental questions of constitutional importance that no amount of intimidation can stop me from pursuing, in seeking for justice and that is why we are lawyers!

My joy is that LPDC is not NBA NEC meetings where he lords it over everybody and where he is treated as king that does no wrong and his words are laws and cannot be challenged. I am not afraid of his petition! It is unfortunate that the President of the Bar does not want his despotic composition of ECNBA challenged. It has been challenged. He should allow the judiciary to decide those cases. His petition will not stop me from acting as lawyer to the Claimants. Indeed the petition has given me more energy to pursue those cases with envagelical commitment.

– JS OKUTEPA SAN