The report that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) gifted some Senior Advocates of Nigeria $2,000 each as attendance fee for its NEC meeting held in Maiduguri, Borno State has drawn reaction from the body.
Murtala Abdul-Rasheed, SAN, had levelled this at NBA including accusing the lawyers’ association of misappropriating USD 126, 527.00 approximately N177, 800, 000, which he claimed was MacArthur Foundation grant between 2016 and 2018.
Abdul-Rasheed revealed that the $2,000 each to some of his colleagues were provided by Borno State Government and in the supposedly exposé called for the removal of the body’s President Mazi Afam Osigwe.
Reacting to the charge, NBA National Secretariat, in a rebuttal dismissed the allegations saying, no amount was gifted to anyone and had no record of such sum from Borno State government.
“There is no payment voucher, no government schedule of disbursement, no official list of beneficiaries issued by any state authority, and no identifiable budgetary head under which such a payment could have been processed,” NBA President said in a statement he issued.
“The Association neither received nor authorised the distribution of any such sum,” the disclaimer stated further.
