Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Asiwaju Kunle Kalejaye, has urged the newly inaugurated President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, to make reconciliation, institutional reforms and unity the central priorities of her administration.
Kalejaye, in a commentary on Badejo-Okusanya’s inaugural address titled “From the Call to the Cause,” described her assumption of office as a historic moment for the Nigerian legal profession, noting that she is the first woman elected President of the NBA through a competitive national ballot.
Badejo-Okusanya was sworn in by her predecessor, Afam Osigwe, SAN, at the High Court complex in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
According to Kalejaye, the new NBA administration must move beyond “performative governance” and introduce structural reforms capable of healing the divisions that have emerged within the association.
He specifically advocated a post-election reconciliation strategy that would bring former contestants and key members of their campaign teams into the administration through strategic committees.
Kalejaye described the approach as the “Abraham Lincoln strategy,” recalling how the former United States President appointed some of his major rivals from the 1860 Republican nomination contest to key positions in his administration.
He said the same philosophy could help transform former NBA electoral rivals into partners in rebuilding the association.
“By building an ‘olive branch’ initiative that integrates runner-up contestants and their core campaign stakeholders into strategic national committees, the leadership can transform former rivals into active co-creators of the Bar’s future,” he stated.
The legal practitioner also called for measures to address the widening economic and generational divide within the profession.
He recommended standardised minimum remuneration and welfare requirements across NBA branches, as well as mentorship programmes that would bring senior lawyers and younger practitioners together to share expertise in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, data privacy and digital commerce.
Kalejaye further urged the NBA to establish a comprehensive digital ethics framework to tackle what he described as the deterioration of professional etiquette among some lawyers on social media.
He cited international examples, including developments within the American Bar Association and the Law Society of England and Wales, arguing that the NBA should strengthen its own professional conduct framework to address cyberbullying, misleading online statements and other forms of digital misconduct.
He proposed the use of secure reporting platforms, disciplinary procedures and continuing legal education programmes focused on digital ethics and professional conduct.
The senior lawyer also called for the decentralisation of NBA activities, arguing that the association must overcome the perception that it is excessively “Lagos-Abuja centric.”
He suggested rotating National Executive Council meetings across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones and providing greater financial and technical support to smaller and rural branches.
Kalejaye also expressed concern about the growing disengagement of some NBA members, which he linked partly to controversies surrounding the association’s electoral processes.
Quoting Chief Yomi Alliyu, SAN, he noted that concerns over the association’s elections had contributed to the alienation of some practitioners.
“The new administration must therefore consciously pursue reconciliatory steps that rein in all members. As at now, the silent class war must end for NBA to achieve its full potentials,” he stated.
He warned that failure to address the divisions within the association could lead to deeper fragmentation along regional and other lines.
Kalejaye said he was initially tempted to title his commentary “Nigerian Bar Association: The Road to Kigali,” but deliberately refrained because he believes the new administration still has an opportunity to prevent the association from descending into institutional crisis.
He referenced the 1992 Port Harcourt Conference Crisis as a historical warning of how internal divisions once brought the NBA close to permanent disintegration.
“The ‘road to Kigali’ serves as a grim warning about the risk of total institutional fracture, polarization, and potential irrelevance,” Kalejaye said.
He added that the present leadership could “etch their names in gold” if it successfully steers the NBA away from self-destruction.
“Their job is cut out for them. Failure to seize the moment may end up placing us all on the road to Kigali,” he warned.
Kalejaye, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and contributor to Eagle102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, said the NBA’s ability to defend the rule of law and speak truth to power would ultimately depend on its capacity to first restore unity and confidence within its own ranks.
