You can shout on social media all you want, but there are 3 places where binding decisions and Resolutions concerning the NBA are taken:
1. AGM
2. NEC
3. Branch MGM/AGM.
If as a lawyer, you want to tell us that attending Branch Monthly General Meetings (MGMs) is of little or no importance, then you’re precisely what is wrong with the NBA.
Let me give a quick example. In 2014/2015 when Alegeh hiked #BPF, the decision was greeted with serious opposition and backlash, whereupon he introduced the “BRANCH WELFARE ACCOUNT” and promised that another 10% rebate will be given to all Branches in addition to the statutory 10%, in a bid to assuage the hike and calm frayed nerves.
The implementation of this policy never fully blossomed, and the final death-knell was sounded by AB Mahmoud SAN, when he denied any knowledge of such policy.
Ok, even if you don’t attend NEC meetings as an observer, it is expected that your Branch representatives ought to brief the Branch whenever they return from NEC meetings.
It is also expected that members ought to dissect and deliberate on what they have been briefed as having transpired at NEC.
It is not expected that Branches are to swallow hook, line and sinker, everything that comes out of NEC whether it be people-friendly or not.
If all the audio members shouting on social media were to really get involved/engaged in their respective Branches, perhaps AB MAHMOUD would not have reneged on the BRANCH WELFARE ACCOUNT policy. But everybody kept quiet and the policy met an untimely death.
Secondly, if many lawyers had not attended 2018 AGM and were ready to vote down A.B. Mahmoud’s unpopular constitutional amendment proposals, by now, Branches within a given State would’ve all been collapsed into single State Branches; which many people saw as a sinister proposal.
Thirdly, if AB MAHMOUD for instance had also appreciated and understood the workings of the NBA, he could’ve simply resolved the Abuja Branch imbroglio by raising the issue at the 2017 AGM, with a view to overriding the decision taken at Benin NEC of 2016 wherein Ezenwa Anumnu was recognized as the bonafide Abuja Branch Chairman and was returned unopposed (whether rightly or wrongly). But perhaps it never occurred to him that the AGM can override NEC.
The foregoing are just few of many examples why it is foolishness for any NBA Member to suggest that attending NBA Meetings is of little or no importance!
Going forward, I sincerely think that attendance of at least 8 Branch Meetings in the preceding 24 months prior to any National Election, should be included as part of the requirements for eligibility to vote; so that voters will be in a position to know without being told, the various nagging issues calling for immediate and long term attention.
It’s not bad to make noise online, but go to your Branch and get involved so that you can be the change you seek!