In response to Rivers State Sole Administrator Ibok-Ete Ibas’s request for a reimbursement of the N300 million spent to host the 2025 Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, the Nigerian Bar Association, or NBA, has responded.
The conference’s chairman, Senior Advocate of Nigeria Emeka Obegolu, released a statement on Monday that included the NBA’s response.
He claims that the NBA did not sell the conference’s hosting rights.
He clarified that the funds were a gift from Rivers State, which was led by Siminalayi Fubara, the suspended governor.
“The attention of the Annual General Conference planning committee has been drawn to a statement credited to the Administrator of Rivers State to the effect that the Rivers State government paid hosting rights for the hosting of the NBA AGC 2025.
“We wish to clarify that the decision to host the 2025 AGC in Port Harcourt was taken in August 2024 and was not subject to any bidding process or payment of any hosting rights. The host city has no hosting rights, and there is no representation by the NBA that the conference must be held in a chosen city.
“Traditionally, because of the enormous cost involved in hosting the AGC, the NBA Conference Planning Committee approaches organisations, agencies of government, and state governments for support, and the support requested is unconditional and not tied to hosting rights or any rights whatsoever.
“The money from Rivers State was a gift and was not tied to any purported hosting right for the NBA AGC,” he stated in a statement released on the NBA X account on Monday.
Remember how the NBA announced last Thursday that, because of the emergency rule, it had moved its 2025 AGC from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to Enugu State?
Ibas, however, urged the NBA to return N300 million that the state had paid for the conference hosting rights in a statement released on Monday.
Ibas also warned the NBA against adding needless stress to Rivers State.
