AMIDST AWOMOLO’S LETTER, RESPECTED LAWYER, ADE OKEANYA-INNEH SAN ENDORSES OLUMIDE AKPATA FOR NBA PRESIDENT

Amidst the recent letter written by Chief Awomolo SAN, upbraiding fellow Senior Advocates of Nigeria and asking them not to vote a non-SAN as NBA President, various lawyers and Senior Advocates have come forward to show support for Olumide Akpata and dissociate themselves from Awomolo’s take. One of such is Ade Okeanya-Inneh SAN. In a post he made on Facebook on Monday 29th June, he said:

“I am a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. I have huge respect for the two Senior Advocates contesting to be President of the Bar Association. I however respectfully state that the kitemark of being a Senior Advocate is not and should not be the only criteria for aspiring to the position of President of the Bar Association.

Olumide Akpata is eminently qualified to aspire to that position and I support and endorse him. He is a fit and proper aspirant and a very brilliant lawyer. You do not have to be a litigator to excel as a lawyer. Olumide Akpata started practice as a litigator and now runs a firm with a broadbased legal practice.

It is my humble view that the very pressing issue of the relevance of the legal practitioners and the delivery of high quality legal services in the 21st century should be what is on the front burner not whether or not an aspirant to the Presidency of the Bar is a Senior Advocate.”