NBA debunks rumours of lawyers ignoring conference over invitation of Portable as guest artiste

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has denied online reports that some lawyers at the ongoing Annual General Conference of the NBA held in Abuja walked out of an all-night party organized by the association in the early hours of Thursday on the choice of Portable as guest artiste.

The late evening programme tagged, “unbarred” was held at the Velodrome of the MKO Abiola stadium, was part of the programme of the 2023 NBA Annual Conference with the theme, “Getting it right: Charting the course for Nigeria’s Nation Building”.

The National Publicity Secretary of the NBA, Mr Habeeb Lawal told Nigerian Tribune that the information as contained in the online report was not correct.

“That is not true, the closing party was a blast, members were happy and dancing till after 3 am when we have to close the party for people to rest for the Annual General Meeting (AGM),” he said.

But, the online report said, lawyers who had waited several hours after the plenary and the breakaway sessions earlier in the day for the programme to start were shocked when Portable was announced as the guest artist.

Many of the lawyers, according to the report questioned the choice of the Zazu singer and opted to walk out of the night show.

According to the report, the protesting members of the NBA were seen walking and driving out of the stadium around 1 am.

“How dare they call Portable to come and play for lawyers at the conference? Can you imagine? Normally, unbarred doesn’t end till 3 am or 4 am, but we are leaving for our hotels. We are upset,” the online report quoted one of the lawyers saying during the walkout.

“They spoilt my day with this Zazu. He couldn’t even wear a shirt”, another lawyer said and added that many of the conferees were unhappy that Portable was invited as the guest artist.

However, other lawyers stayed behind to watch the controversial singer perform.

Unbarred is a live entertainment session organized for lawyers as part of the Annual NBA conference and normally holds a day before the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association.

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