SPECIAL INTERVIEW

Q: What salient issues can you share with us in these two years in office as NBA Chairperson?

Ikwulono: I will start by giving thanks to God. God has helped us; God has seen us thus far. And I will also say that it has not been easy, it looks like it was going to be rosy.  But, I discovered along the line that at some point, you will really have to be able to stand alone, be able to stand firm. To take some decisions that may not be quite popular but are needful, they are necessary for the moment. It’s been quite challenging, but we thank God we have successfully sailed through and God’s willing, on the 12th of June, 2024, we will be handing over the baton to a new administration.

Q: Can you be more specific and tell us exactly some of the issues you encountered in your Chairmanship position. How was it like in a male dominated Bar like that of Makurdi?

Ikwulono: Generally speaking, there is this notion that the women may not be good as men. And I believe that accounted for all the decades this branch has existed. It is always the men who are at the helm of affairs. Now that a woman has come, it is like ‘What can this one do? Let’s watch and see.’ For instance, when we came, we met a project on ground and it is called the bar foyer; a foyer for lawyers. It is a hall that now houses the Secretariat of NBA. We met it at preliminary stage and as a matter of fact, we met it in a form that was not suitable for a purpose. We had to reconstruct it. Everybody was supposed to be part of the work and all of that.  But along the line, it seemed like we were just on our own. We had to go the extra miles and some persons didn’t believe that we could do it. Because of that, they were skeptical, can they entrust us with their funds? Can this woman deliver and all of that. We summoned courage and with every available resources we could gather, we pushed into it. Today, to the glory of God, that project has been completed and was commissioned 31st  May, 2024. For me, that was a big challenge but God has helped us to surmount.

Q:  How did you  navigate issues of human rights violations, since it is on the rise in recent times, especially in Benue State. How have you integrated all of this with your official assignment as the NBA Chairperson?

Ikwulono: We have a committee on human rights; we call it the human rights committee. It is a constitutional committee and is headed by the Vice Chairman of the Branch at the branch level. It’s a committee of Chairman, Secretary and other members. When we have this kind of challenge, the committee swings into action accordingly.

Q: Has there been any particular cases you can remember. The ones that you have resolved as a Bar?

Ikwulono:: Yes, sometimes, our members were harassed by security agencies and as soon as we got wind of that, we attended to such, even when it meant going to court. I remembered one particular case also that someone was impersonating membership of  the legal profession and again, that committee swung into action and the guy was convicted and sent to jail. There are many issues like that.

Q: Any cases of lawyers who were found to be unethical to the law profession?

Ikwulono: Yes, several of them, as a matter of fact and in such an unfortunate situation. But then, I also know that it’s not peculiar to the law profession. We find such people everywhere. But as much as possible, we try to see how those matters are handled. Again, fortunately for us, we have a committee; the ethics and disciplinary committee. We have it both at the national and at the branch levels. At the branch level, we resolve issues, but where it is impossible, we simply refer it to the disciplinary committee at the national level, which has the mandate to do a thorough investigation and recommend the appropriate action. Sometimes they are penalised including debarment or suspension from practice for some years and all of that. That can happen when there are such recommendations. The legal profession actually regulates itself. We have that and we observe the ethics taken seriously. This administration too ensured that as much as possible, we didn’t water down that expectation of the profession.

Q: How do you manage your home, office and the NBA?

Ikwulono:  I will say the grace of God is at work. I think that is the summary of it. Yes, I work with the government, I work with Benue State Ministry of Justice and by the grace of God, recently I got elevated as the Acting Director, heading the civil litigation department. This is in addition to my Chairmanship position of the branch. As the NBA Chairman and another one that you may not be aware. I am also a Pastor with the Redeemed Church of God. That also is another form of responsibility and then of course I have the home front. I’m not just a house wife, I am also a mother of both biological and foster children and that again is another angle of responsibility all together. So, it’s really congesting but to the glory of God, we have been able to navigate, we try as much as possible to give attention, due attention to every aspect of it. But what NBA requires is given to it the time that office and the Ministry requires, we attend to it and then the home and the church as well. God has been faithful.

Q: What will be your major call to women especially  those who target to  occupy this kind of status as you?

Ikwulono: They should believe in themselves. They should believe it is possible. They should believe it can be done. That is the first step because if you don’t believe you can do it, you don’t get to start and you never get to get there. Believe in yourself and also trust in the grace of God to help you and with that, I think they should be able to make a head way.

Q: There is always this alleged oppression that goes on the smokescreen that sometimes we don’t see but it is always there. Do you really need the support of men to succeed in an office like this?

Ikwulono: I will say that I have come to discover that the men may not like you. The men may not necessarily be eager to support you as such but if you maintain a cordial or good relationship with them, even if they don’t support you directly, they won’t spoil things for you. That helps you to keep making progress.

Q: How do you develop that kind of relationship?

Ikwulono: It is not a day’s thing. It didn’t start in a day. I have been in this branch for decades. By the grace of God, this is almost three decades now and all along I have interacted with both the men and the women of this branch. It also happened that for quite awhile I have been part of the leadership  of the branch at various levels. I had once served as Treasurer, I had served as second Vice Chairman when we used to have three Vice Chairmen. I also served as the Vice Chairman when it became a single Vice Chairman. I had the opportunity of serving as a National Executive Member, representing the branch at the national level. I have worked along with men for awhile. I have given the men due respect and you know men like respect a lot. When you have given them their due respect, you can actually expect theirs. Respect is reciprocal  and when you respect yourself and you respect them, chances are that they would pay some more attention to see if they can find some deserving qualities that can earn you some support. I think that has also worked out for me.

Q: You have completed the project that your predecessor started and you said it was very tough. Did you receive any support from the government to achieve that?

Ikwulono: No, we didn’t receive grants from government for this project. We did not. What we did was, we levied members with the agreement of the Congress. We agreed ourselves that let’s levy ourselves. We pay these  levies according to our ages at the Bar. We did that and we were able to raise some funds even though not everybody paid; even though what was paid was not enough, but at least, we got something from there and then we appealed to some senior members that are not necessary of this branch. We appealed to them that this is the project we are doing, we want you to come in and support us. And then they also sent in their support. Most of it came largely from such support. Of course our dues too, we pay annual dues. The practicing dues go to the national but there is also the branch dues. From there also, we were able to raise  some funds to push into the project.

Q:  Have you helped in adding a voice to the Independent Judiciary we have in Benue today?

Ikwulono: Yes, the NBA has always spoken for the Independence, financial autonomy for the judiciary.  We have consistently done that at the branch level and at the national level. I believe that part of what has brought about this autonomy is the consistency in the advocacy for the judiciary and we thank God it has come to be. We are also hopeful that with this autonomy, even though at the moment it may not be like we were probably expecting, we are hopeful that somehow it will bring about some improvements in the infrastructure, the court rooms you just mentioned and all of that. We hope that it would be better.

Q: How have you been able to bring together the old, the young and everyone together as a unified Bar in Makurdi branch vis-à-vis your relationship with other bars  in the State like the Otukpo Bar and the Gboko Bar?

Ikwulono: I have good relationship with my brother chairmen or the other bars in the State. We have the Gboko branch, we have the Otukpo branch and we have been relating very well. As a matter of fact, sometimes, they attend our events, especially when we have an event that covers the State like Legal Year or some other events of general nature. You find us coming together and if there is speech to be made, one of us represent what all of us have put together. There is some kind of synergy and unity and at the branch level too, I think it’s been good. As far as I’m  concerned, It’s been peaceful. I never really had occasion to have to pick up a quarrel with any group. It’s been good and we are all members of the same profession and some how, we have some rallying points apart from  the fact that we belong to those different groups, we are all lawyers of the same profession. We meet in courts, we do cases together and some of us worship at the same churches together, we meet at occasions and there is no way you won’t flow together. I think it’s been ok.

Q:  You are exiting office on June 12th. Did you regret being the NBA Chairperson. Where did you meet NBA and where are you living it?

Ikwulono: There is no regret at all. If there is anything, just thanks to God because for me, as hard as it was, it was an opportunity. Every challenge I met gave me an opportunity to improve, to move further. So it was a good ride, a good journey and I thank God for that and you  talked about where I met NBA and where I’m leaving NBA. I think we have actually come a long way. We have stepped up a lot. Like before I came on board, this issue of disunity that you talked about, distrust, people not trusting themselves which was affecting  even relationship among lawyers. But I think it is not the case now.  I am the first chairman of the branch from Zone C and this is a major block. Zone A and Zone B  share something in common,  Zone C stands alone and there hasn’t been any chairman from that zone since the inception of the branch. You would expect that there would be a lot of agitation, there is even this apathy  even if you come out to contest, they won’t give us, that kind of thing. So everybody just zeroed his mind, let them do their own thing, you know, that kind of thinking but it wasn’t so as God helped us. We were able to come on board and everybody is happy let’s put it that way. The misgivings, the ill feelings, the withdrawal, not wanting to participate, let them have it, all of this fizzled out.

Q: Are there any other projects you wish you would have done for the branch if not for scarcity of funds?

Ikwulono: There are actually other projects we also did. For instance, the NBA Makurdi branch now has a website and for us it is also another big achievement. It opens us up  globally to the world. People can look at information that we post there. You don’t have to travel to Benue State, to Makurdi to come and check our records. Now, if you have paid your bar practicing fee as at when due, we have a list already that is compiled both in soft copy and hard copy which you can actually take to court room.  As a lawyer, if you don’t pay your bar practicing fee, you are not entitled to audience in court. If you have a copy of that document for instance and the court too has a copy, nobody who does not qualify to be given audience can stand up to talk because you can easily check it and I think that is a big plus too for us.

Q: So, any other thing you wished you would have done if you had funds?

Ikwulono:  This is a bar foyer. A bar foyer is relatively smaller or limited in structure than a bar centre. A bar centre would have given you a bigger structure, many more facilities that you would have. For instance,  in this bar foyer, all we have is the secretariat, that is another big thing. We moved our secretariat from a rented apartment to our place, our own place where we don’t have to pay rent and it is even a better place with a large hall; three hundred and fifty capacity hall. You can hold your meetings there, you can do seminars there and because it is located within the High Court premises, even the judiciary can have access to it for their purpose. So, I think it is another big thing and so, what we have there right now is the secretariat and the large hall and hopefully before we step down, a small snacks eatery point where  lawyers can relax and refresh while they are waiting for cases in court. This is all we have but in a bar centre, it would have been bigger, containing facilities like library, both online and physical library that members can easily consult while in court or while preparing for their cases. If we had our way, but I am sure someday, we’ll get there. I believe subsequent administrations will take us there.

Q: How are you organising the next election, the officials that will succeed you, do you have someone in mind who you want to plant?

Ikwulono: It appeared we have also become more matured in this branch. During my time the first attempt I made, I contested with somebody and lost with two votes. In fact, one of the votes was said to be an invalid one, so practically or effectively, I lost by one vote. And then the second attempt I made, there was this understanding:. My colleagues who came on board  stepped down for me. Now, it is a game repeating itself in this coming election. We initially had two persons but after due  considerations, one has stepped down. So, we can effectively say that we know who is our next chairman, by the grace of God. But all the same, the election will hold on the 8th  of June and the office of the Secretary is the one that is keenly contested now. But again we are hopeful that everything will work out so smoothly and then we will be able to handover to the next EXCO on the 12th of June 2024.

Q: Anything that you want to share with the public that was not captured?

Ikwulono: I want to let the public know that the legal profession is a noble profession. It has always been so. I know that some persons experiences do not speak much of the nobility, I mean the experience with some lawyers but that not withstanding, nobody should give up on the fact that this profession is a noble one. There are still people with integrity, there are people who practise the profession with  due diligence and honesty.  I also want to say that if for any reason you come across someone who is different from what he should be, from what a lawyer should be, do not hesitate to raise it up with the leadership of the branch, because until we know what  somebody is doing wrong somewhere, we will not be able to address it. If we know, we should be able to call the person to order by using the mechanisms that are already in place for such purpose. So, by and large, the legal profession remains a noble profession irrespective of what someone’s peculiar experience may be. Let’s still keep faith with the profession, let’s encourage our lawyers.