The Aba branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has denied claims that controversial Nigerian lawyer and social media influencer Ifunanya Excel Grant, better known online as “Baddest Lawyer,” is one of its members.
The statement was issued on Tuesday and signed by NBA Aba Branch Chairman, Innocent O. Egwu, Esq., and Secretary Mazi K.C. Okoro.
“For the records, we wish to state categorically that Miss Ifunanya Excel Grant is not a member of the NBA, Aba Branch, and she is unknown to NBA, Aba Branch.
“While we support every effort of our great association, the NBA, to rid the legal profession of the few bad eggs, we must request that painstaking efforts be taken by officers concerned to ensure that innocent and law-abiding practitioners are not unwittingly held out in bad light to the public,” the statement reads in part.
This is coming after some reports ascribed Ifunanya’s NBA membership to the Aba Branch following the call for her to be prosecuted for inappropriate social media conduct involving substance abuse and unclad images and videos.
A notice by the NBA National Publicity Secretary revealed that the NBA filed misconduct charges against Miss Grant and former INEC REC in Adamawa State, Mr Hudu Yunusa-Ari before the LPDC.
”The National Officers also deliberated at their earlier monthly meeting over the unbecoming conduct of some members of the legal profession. Following the resolutions of the National Officers, the NBA has filed petitions at the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) against Mr Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the suspended Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Ifunanya Excel Grant, a young lawyer of Aba Branch wildly known as “the baddest lawyer” on social media.
”Mr Yunusa-Ari was petitioned over his role in illegally declaring the result of the supplementary 2023 gubernatorial election in Adamawa State while votes were still being counted. While the complaints against Miss Ifunanya centred on her social media notoriety of posting pictures and videos of herself unclad and smoking marijuana.
”While it is important to underscore the fact that none of the lawyers petitioned or being investigated is deemed guilty of professional misconduct until the LPDC hands down its decisions after fair trial, the NBA President has emphasised the need for lawyers to continue to be of best conduct wherever they find themselves, and he reiterated that the present NBA leadership will not relent in ridding the profession of the very few bad eggs that may be found.”
