{"id":159802,"date":"2025-04-17T22:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T21:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/rivers-crisis-rep-slams-nba-demands-return-of-n300m"},"modified":"2025-04-22T21:54:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T20:54:40","slug":"rivers-crisis-rep-slams-nba-demands-return-of-n300m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/rivers-crisis-rep-slams-nba-demands-return-of-n300m","title":{"rendered":"Rivers crisis: Rep slams NBA, demands return of N300m"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>A member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State, Solomon Bob has taken a swipe at the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, accusing it of insincerity, hypocrisy and \u201cmisguided praetorian pretentions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This is following the association\u2019s condemnation of the state of emergency in Rivers State.<\/p>\n<p>Recall that President Bola Tinubu had on 18th March issued a proclamation declaring a state of emergency in Rivers State after a prolonged crisis involving Governor Siminilayi Fubara and the Martin Amaewhule-led House of Assembly loyal to Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.<\/p>\n<p>The crisis had assumed a dangerous dimension following a fresh impeachment move against the governor, leading to the blowing up of petroleum infrastructure amid threat of violence and social unrest before the President stepped in.<\/p>\n<p>The President\u2019s proclamation was followed two days later by the National Assembly\u2019s ratification as required by section 305 of the constitution.<\/p>\n<p>Justifying the declaration of a state of emergency in his home state in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday, Bob said the NBA \u201ccannot circumscribe or amend the clear untrammelled and discretionary powers granted the President by Section 305 of the constitution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNeither is the NBA in a position to interpret or determine what measures qualify as extraordinary \u2013 which the President is required to adopt under the same section.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lawmaker stated further that the NBA does not have \u201cthe jurisdictional competence or ethical example to be a barometer for measuring democracy and constitutionalism\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He claimed that an association of lawyers, which should be a model of democratic participation, has become a cartel for pursuing narrow interests to the point where the NBA is \u201cunable organise its elections based on the principle of universal franchise, devoid of zoning\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Bob said that since after the fiasco of the 1992 conference, \u201cso-called NBA elections are no more than predetermined coronation of regional or even ethnic hegemons\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>While also describing the NBA\u2019s statement as a distraction, the federal lawmaker stated further: \u201cHaving witnessed Fubara\u2019s dangerous and incomparable incompetence first-hand, and the embarrassing diminution his actions have exposed my state to, I consider the statement arrogant and a gratuitous insult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He accused the NBA of \u201crank hypocrisy and insincerity because it stood idly by without a whimper when suspended governor Siminilayi Fubara exhibited the type of crass lawlessness and wanton irresponsibility never before seen in any state in Nigeria\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Bob claimed that \u201cthe NBA had got itself entangled in a sweetheart deal with Fubara, a quid pro quo, and it was set to use the Port Harcourt conference to whitewash the worst misgovernment of any state in Nigeria\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He further stated that NBA\u2019s statement on the Rivers situation carefully concealed their pecuniary interest and only belatedly admitted receiving a huge advance payment from Fubara after the authorities in Port Harcourt exposed the deal by publicly demanding a refund of the money.<\/p>\n<p>He said NBA\u2019s grudging claim that the sum of three N300 million was a gift is unreasonable and unbecoming of a \u201cself-appointed ombudsman\u201d, and proof that they were engaged in a relationship of compromise with Fubara.<\/p>\n<p>He demanded that the money be returned to the coffers of the Rivers State government, failing which the authorities in Port Harcourt should take every necessary step to recover same.<\/p>\n<p>Recall that the Rivers State Sole Administrator, Ibok-Ete Ibas, had challenged the NBA to refund the N300 million from suspended Governor Sim Fubara\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n<p>Ibas said the money was given to NBA to host its Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt.<\/p>\n<p>However, the event was later relocated to Enugu State.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. A member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State, Solomon Bob has taken a swipe at the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, accusing it of insincerity, hypocrisy and \u201cmisguided praetorian pretentions\u201d. This is following the association\u2019s condemnation of the state of emergency in Rivers State. Recall that President Bola Tinubu had on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":159801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[2983,254,1919,11720],"class_list":["post-159802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-nba","tag-nigeria","tag-rep","tag-rivers-crisis"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rivers crisis: Rep slams NBA, demands return of N300m - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State, Solomon Bob has taken a swipe at the Nigerian Bar Associatio ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/rivers-crisis-rep-slams-nba-demands-return-of-n300m\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rivers crisis: Rep slams NBA, demands return of N300m\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State, Solomon Bob has taken a swipe at the Nigerian Bar Associatio ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/rivers-crisis-rep-slams-nba-demands-return-of-n300m\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-17T21:04:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-22T20:54:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744915307.872771.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1055\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/rivers-crisis-rep-slams-nba-demands-return-of-n300m#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/rivers-crisis-rep-slams-nba-demands-return-of-n300m\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Rivers crisis: Rep slams NBA, demands return of N300m\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-17T21:04:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-22T20:54:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/rivers-crisis-rep-slams-nba-demands-return-of-n300m\"},\"wordCount\":619,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/rivers-crisis-rep-slams-nba-demands-return-of-n300m#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744915307.872771.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"nBA\",\"Nigeria\",\"rep\",\"Rivers crisis\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/rivers-crisis-rep-slams-nba-demands-return-of-n300m#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/rivers-crisis-rep-slams-nba-demands-return-of-n300m\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/rivers-crisis-rep-slams-nba-demands-return-of-n300m\",\"name\":\"Rivers crisis: Rep slams NBA, demands return of N300m - 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