Eke, First Female PH NBA Chair Promises To Work With Opponents

The new Chairman of the Port Harcourt Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mrs. Cordelia Eke, has said that she’s open to every member of the branch, including her opponents in the election.
Eke, who is the first female Chairman of the Port Harcourt Branch of the association, said it did not matter what camp any member worked for during the election what was paramount was to move the association forward. “In fact, in this election there is no victor, no vanquished,” she said.
She was elected with other members of her executive committee for a term of two years.
“I want to say that today history has been made. Although it took me about a month or two months to prepare for this election. However, I feel highly fulfilled and honoured to have been elected not only as the chairman of the NBA Port Harcourt Branch but as the first female chairman of the Branch after 30 years,” she said, describing her election as a new beginning for the NBA in Port Harcourt.
“My election is a new dawn. It is a new beginning for the members of the NBA Port Harcourt Branch. We the new Exco members want to assure you that we will not disappoint or fail you. I know that this is the NBA Port Harcourt Branch election. But most important, we are all members of the one Bar. This election is a brotherhood election,” Mrs. Eke emphasized.
The chairman promised that the new administration would organize seminars and conferences regularly through the various committees that would be set up under her watch.
She charged members to continue with the spirit of paying their dues at all times.
She commended all members of the Branch for their active franchise and democratic right, adding that she would remain eternally grateful for the mandate given to her.
She congratulated the new exco members.
The newly elected Vice-Chairman of the Branch, Mr. Emmanuel John, said that having being elected for the first time it was the time for him to contribute his quota towards the growth and development of the branch.
“I will also like to work with the ideas of my chairman and exco members in order to tap from them. With God on our side we will take the Branch to a greater height,” Mr. John assured.
He described the 2024 election Branch as free, fair and credible, adding that the election victory of the Branch is for all members irrespective of camps.
The vice-chairman stated that since the duty of the vice-chairman is to promote human rights he would ensure that no member’s right is denied or violated.
The newly elected secretary of the Branch Mr. Obum Nwoye explained that having joined the Branch in 2008 he would use his office to ensure that the Branch had a functional secretariat.
“As a professional lawyer who has been elected into office to serve as the secretary of the Branch I will ensure that some levels of professionalism is enthroned or introduced,” Mr. Nwoye asserted.
A member of the Branch, Mr. Nze Ugochukwu Umeh, said the emergence of the new Exco members headed by Mrs. Eke was about rescuing the Branch from certain lawyers, adding that it is no longer business as usual.