President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Mr Olumide Akpata has allayed fears expressed by some of its members that the association plans to endorse one or two presidential candidates in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
Akpata said the NBA is apolitical as an organisation although some of its members belong to different political parties.
The NBA president spoke in Lagos at a news conference organised to make public programs and activities planned for its 2022 Annual General Conference held in the state.
He said, “We are bending over backward to show that that is not the intention and just to add my voice in saying that the NBA cannot and will not endorse one, two, or three parties.
Akpata disclosed that the conference session hosting four of the 2023 presidential candidates is just part of the regular sessions at the event and that it is not a Manifesto night.
He said, “It is not a manifesto night or afternoon, it is a regular session at the conference where we are interrogating the issue of democracy in transition and the leadership deficit that we have identified in this country.
“We, however, thought that we should talk to those who are trying to ask us as Nigerians, to allow them to lead. So these are the persons’ that our members selected to be invited because we cannot invite all of them.”