Nigerian Bar Association president Afam Osigwe has blasted the leadership of the Garki NBA chapter for appointing Abdulrasheed Maina, a former pension czar convicted of N2 billion corruption charges, as grand patron.

Mr Osigwe, on Friday, said such an appointment endorsed corruption, cast the bar in a bad light, and “makes a mockery of the government’s fight against corruption.” 

He directed the chair of the NBA Garki chapter, Anthony Bamidele Ojo, to immediately withdraw the appointment and avail himself for disciplinary actions. 

“The NBA, therefore, disclaims the purported appointment of Abdulrasheed Maina as ‘grand patron of NBA Garki branch’ by the chairman of the branch, Anthony Bamidele Ojo,” said the president of the bar association in a statement on Friday. “The NBA strongly condemns his actions and reiterates that the Bar must use its power to stop corruption.”

“Bamidele Ojo is hereby directed to immediately withdraw any purported appointment of Mr Abdulrasheed Maina as a patron of the branch and to forthwith cease and desist from issuing statements, comments, or representations on behalf of, or in support of, Mr Maina or any other litigant in respect of cases pending in court,” the statement said.

Mr Maina was arrested in 2019 for misappropriation of pension funds going to N2 billion and was subsequently sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment after trial. He was released early last year based on jail term calculations by the Nigerian correctional facility.

NBA’s Ojo conferred the Rule of Law and Courage Award on Mr Maina at an event in Asokoro, Abuja, on Thursday, a move that angered lawyers who deemed the medal an endorsement of the corruption that sent the pension czar to prison.

“The NBA views this conduct as a serious breach of professional responsibility and institutional discipline. Accordingly, disciplinary proceedings will be commenced against the chairman of the NBA Garki Branch for actions inconsistent with the constitution of the NBA,” Mr Osigwe noted.

But Mr Maina, on Thursday, accused former Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami of being the mastermind behind the corruption charges after he demanded the whistle-blower’s five per cent commission for recovering $1.3 trillion.

He said the stolen N270 billion linked to Mr Malami was only a fraction of the actual amount stolen and pressed the government to dig deeper into its investigation, saying there were more skeletons to uncover.