Deji Adeyanju, a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Citizens’ Liberties Committee, has maintained that the union did not receive any hosting rights fee from Rivers State Government.
He stated this while debunking the report of N300million allegedly received from the Rivers State government as a hosting rights fee for the 2025 NBA’s Annual General Conference (AGC).
Adeyanju’s statement comes amidst backlash over the NBA’s decision to move the 2025 Annual General Conference (AGC) from Port Harcourt to Enugu.
Critics, including the Rivers State’s Sole Administrator, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd), have suggested that unmet financial commitments played a role in this decision.
On Monday, Adeyanju dismissed these claims, insisting that the NBA’s choice of venue was based solely on factors such as infrastructure, logistics, security, and overall suitability, rather than financial contributions or political influences.
He stated that the N300million was contributed under a constitutionally elected government and that the NBA would not lend legitimacy to what he described as the current “unconstitutional” governance model in Rivers State.
“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.
He emphasised 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. – Sahara Reporters
