PRESIDENT WITHOUT CONTEST?

SQUIB BAR NEWS

Come August 31 2008, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu S.A.N may just find himself the president of the Nigerian Bar Association, on a platter of gold. As at today the scenario of Akeredolu getting to the top of the bar association, unchallenged, is not far-fetched or implausible.

Interestingly only a few weeks back, such a thought would be considered laughable, if not absurd. This was because of the burgeoning presence of Mr. Oladele Julius Adesina, better known as Dele Adesina, Senior Advocate of Nigeria in the race. About a year ago, it was not sure whether Adesina, hugely respected for his networking skills and political resilience, would participate in the presidential race of the NBA.

The field then was only narrowed down to the participation of Mrs. Funke Adekoya S.A.N another veteran Bar leader and Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu. Around January 2008 strong and credible news came that Dele Adesina was now in the race while Mrs. Funke Adekoya was no longer interested.
When it became certain that Adesina was running, the race became keener as the vigorous and wide-ranging politicking of the former Secretary General of the NBA forced a new urgency of Rotimi Akeredolu a.k.a Aketi, to rev up his own political machine.

That Adesina was a credible and even feared political opponent was proved by the many subtle and even direct overtures made to him from the Akeredolu camp and supporters to drop out the race.
Adesina’s threatening presence heightened when contrary to all permutations of political watchers, he reversed the huge political deficit he allegedly had - a lack of a home base.

How the Senior Advocate managed to reconcile with the main body of the political caucus that controls the NBA Ikeja branch of the NBA from where Adesina hails is still a mystery to political watchers. But achieve the feat, an indication of his political dexterity, Adesina did.
Fortified by the support of the movers of his backyard, a group that has suffered, a sharp but narrow split - the incumbent Chairman of the Tiger Branch Niyi Idowu Esq. and incumbent secretary, Beckley Abioye Esq. - having struck out on their own independent course from the group-, Adesina made forays into the Northern, Eastern and Mid-Western power causes, presenting himself as a viable alternative to the candidacy of Akeredolu who in another political irony has become the over- night darling of the chieftains of the Egbe Anofin Yoruba, the main tribal Western Nigeria political caucus in the NBA.

It was not long for keen political watchers to realise that top chieftains of the Egbe was not prepared to allow Dele Adesina to contest the presidency in the year 2008 with the necessary implication that Akeredolu would be the sole presidential candidate in the elections.
Thus observers began to hear of an “adoption policy” of the Egbe in relation to the presidential race as far back as February 2008. It was been argued by the promoters of the adoption policy that it was created essentially to eliminate the huge financial expense that attend presidential contests in the NBA. But the argument could not answer back the anti democratic implication and deficits of such an arrangement in the body politic of the Association.

On Saturday the 19th April 2008, the Egbe Amofin held a meeting at the Ikere (Ekiti State) home of Chief Olanipekun S.A.N, where the Egbe tried to put to practice its alleged adoption policy.
At the very tense and squabbles-rich meeting presided over by Chief Bamidele Aiku S.A.N, the main issue of discussion centred on the report of the Chief Aluko – Olokun led screening committee on the candidacy of the both Akeredolu and Adesina.

Before the report could be tendered, Dele Adesina’s objection to the composition of the screening committee, to wit- that the chairman had had occasion to advise him, Adesina, to step down for Akeredolu, that Mr. Abiodun Emmanuel a member of the committee is from the same Ibadan branch of the NBA with Akeredolu, was considered and given short shrift.
While Chief Aluko Olokun denied making any overture to Adesina for him to step down for Akeredolu, for Mr. Abiodun Emmanuel, it was claimed that his coming from Ibadan branch does not make him necessarily biased in favour of Akeredolu, while the third member of the 3 – man committee Fakunle S.A.N claimed to be aware of Adesina’s objection only then on the very floor of the meeting. Surprisingly when the committee’s report was read, a portion of it stated that it received and considered Dele Adesina’s objection and found it unmeritorious!

The report went on further to say that since only Rotimi Akeredolu who submitted to it, letters of support/sponsor from certain branches of NBA in Western Nigeria, thirteen in number including Ikeja, out of a total of 26, they (the committee) recommend that the Egbe should adopt Akeredolu as the candidate of the West for the election.
The information that Ikeja Branch was one of the thirteen branches which gave support to Rotimi Akeredolu caused –ripples in the meeting. This was natural because Dele Adesina hails from Ikeja branch and was her chairman in 1998, while Niyi Idowu the incumbent chairman served under him as secretary.

Idowu who was also present at the meeting but berthed amidst Ibadan based supporters of Akeredolu was instantly put on the spot.
Openly criticized by his members from Ikeja from what they termed as betrayal of Ikeja branch interests in the candidacy of Dele Adesina, Idowu tried his best to explain his letter of endorsement or support of Akeredolu which was jointly signed by Beckley Abioye, the branch secretary, as “a harmless letter”. It did not appear that the chairman’s arguments persuaded any Tiger at the meeting.

At the end of the day, the discussion of the Aluko – Olokun committee’s report became ding-doing and even unsettled; No vote was taken on the issue of adoption of any of the candidates even though it was assumed by the Akeredolu camp that their man has become adopted as the official candidate of the Egbe.

A week after the crucial meeting, Squib geckos are giving strong signals that Dele Adesina, smarting from what he considered the “strange and dubious politics of the Ikere meeting, might be considering dropping from the race after all, so heart-broken is he said to have become.
He is still baffled how the NBA Ikeja chairman, who issued him a letter of recommendation, to the Egbe, could issue a similar letter to his rival Rotimi Akeredolu.

Although unnoticed by the causal observers, the Ilawe-Ekiti, born Dele Adesina’s political machine has slowed down. Whether this is a strategy to launch out on another blistering campaign or a systematic demobilisation of his forces, only time and very shortly too, will tell.