A hotel owner in River State has posted the sum of N23 million loss after refunding the money paid to his hotel Management by some Nigeria Bar Association members.
Some intending lodgers, booked accommodation to enable them attending the 2025 Annual General conference of the Association, which has been moved from Rivers State to Enugu State.
The relocation of the conference was conveyed in a statement by NBA President Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN; General Secretary Dr. Mobolaji Ojibara; and Emeka Obegolu, SAN, Chairman of the AGC Planning Committee.
NBA cited, “unconstitutional and dictatorial governance” in River State where President Bola Tinubu had on March 18, 2025, suspended elected officials and democratic institutions and appointed Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.) as the Sole Administrator of the State, which has been embroiled in political upheaval caused by State actors, for six months.
Reacting to concerns raised by netizens in social media Community, A Facebook user, Emmanuel Amama, alleged that the unarmed hotelier posted the loss after the guests (lawyers) requested for refund of their money paid to its Management.
While responding to memes by an agitator, he asked, “How about the economic benefit to businesses in Rivers state and the government at large, this conference would have brought to them.
“I saw a post of one hotel owner have to refund over 23m to lawyers that have already booked his hotel, this is just one business among many other businesses that will be affected. What a myopic post!”, he said.
Also responding to memes by a social media user regarding the relocation of the NBA conference from River State to Enugu State by the association, Kelvin Cephas Diri, requested the agitator to stop misleading the public.
“The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) shifted their Annual General Conference to Enugu because they are not in support of the Emergency Rule in Port Harcourt, Simple. Know it and have peace”, according to him.
Justifying the NBA stance, Chidiebere Ani clarified that NBA are moving their conference to Enugu State because of the appointment of a Sole Administrator which they said is against the Constitution.
“But NBA had planned to hold their conference in a state where just 3 members where making laws in a 32 member Assembly? Is that in tandem with their “principled stand in defense of the constitution?”, he queried.
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