…As Ibas demands refund of N300m hosting fee
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The last is yet to be heard of the emergency rule imposed on Rivers State by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, as the Nigeria Bar Association, has cancelled its confab earlier scheduled to be hosted in Port Harcourt, and moved it to Enugu.
This is as the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Etteh Ibas (ret.), has demanded a refund of N300 million hosting fee already paid by the State Government.
The Sole Administrator who was responding to the action of the NBA, said the body ought to have refunded the largesse to prove its integrity.
He said: “While we respect the NBA’s right to choose its conference venues, we find it curious that the association—despite its ‘principled position’—has not addressed the refund of the N300 million already paid by the Rivers State Government for the hosting rights of the 2025 conference.
“If the NBA truly stands on principle, it should demonstrate the same integrity by promptly returning these funds rather than benefiting from a state it now publicly discredits.”
Meanwhile, Rights Activist and a member of NBA Citizens’ Liberties Committee, Deji Adeyanju, has fired back at the Rivers’Sole Administrator, clarifying that the N300 million is not a hosting right fee for the Annual General Conference.
His statement comes amid backlash following the NBA’s decision to relocate the 2025 AGC from Port Harcourt to Enugu, with criticisms from Rivers State’s Sole Administrator, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Rtd), suggesting that unmet financial commitments influenced the decision.
Adeyanju who dismissed Ibas’ claims that unmet financial commitments informed the action of the NBA, explained that “the choice of venue is based solely on infrastructure, logistics, security, and general suitability—not on financial donations or political considerations.”
According to Adeyanju, the N300 million was contributed under a constitutionally elected Government, hence, NBA will not lend legitimacy to what he described as the current “unconstitutional” governance model in Rivers State.
He said: “The concept of hosting rights, as suggested by the Sole Administrator, has no basis in NBA tradition. There is no bidding or contractual process that grants any state the right to host the AGC,” Adeyanju said.
Adeyanju said that the NBA remains an independent institution with a duty to uphold national service and legal development, not an entity that auctions its conference to the highest bidder.
“The 2023 AGC in Abuja received no funding from the FCT. The idea that donations can buy hosting rights is harmful to the profession’s integrity,” he added.
According to him, the NBA’s withdrawal from Rivers was necessary to avoid endorsing a governance arrangement widely viewed as unconstitutional by the legal community.
“This is not a rejection of the people of Rivers or their lawyers—they remain our colleagues. But as defenders of the Constitution, we must stand firm against unconstitutional governance,” Adeyanju concluded.
Adeyanju declared that the decision to relocate the AGC will not be reversed despite public pressure or political backlash, reaffirming the NBA’s commitment to the rule of law and democratic principles.
NBA has not hidden its opposition to the dismantling of democratically elected political leadership in Rivers State.
The body was among the first to call for the reversal of the emergency rule in Rivers State, describing it as executive over-reach.
