A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, has distanced himself from a new political movement, National Consultative Forum, which recently announced him as a member of its steering committee.
The group in a communique released on Wednesday identified other members of its 30-man steering committee as former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Na’abba; former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia; Femi Falana SAN; Col. Abubakar Umar (retd.), Dr Oby Ezekwesili; Prof Jibo Ibrahim; Yabagi Sanni; Amb. Nkoyo Toyo, Isa Aremu, Prof Chidi Odinkalu, and Senator Shehu Sani.
Others include Prof. Remi Sonaiya, Mallam Tanko Yinusa, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, Lady Funke Awolowo, Peter Ameh, and Ogbeni Lanre Banjo, among others.
But the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said he was not consulted before his name was included.
According to Agbakoba, many other so-called members of the 30-man strong committee told him they were also not consulted before their names were used.
“I was not consulted nor do I know anything about it. Many of us mentioned in the group were not consulted.
“For instance, I have been speaking with the so-called conveners to know why they included such names like Col. Umar who has also issued a disclaimer to that effect.
“I don’t say that information on such group is a bad idea but the process is terrible because you can’t just put my name in a group you haven’t told me about,” Agbakoba told Vanguard.
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The group prides itself as a new ideological mass Movement initiated to embark on immediate mass mobilisation of the nooks and crannies of the country for popular mass action towards political constitution reforms that are citizens -driven and process-led in engendering a new Peoples ’ Constitution for a new Nigeria that can work for all.