The NBA Benin Bar Dinner has come and gone but thoughts from the dinner still play on my mind. I am sure everyone that attended the dinner is still in awe of how well the dinner committee pulled off the dinner.

Surfing through pages on social media yesterday, I also realized that NBA Lagos had their dinner on the 10th day of December same day with the Lion Bar and it was expectedly colourful. The crux of this write-up I am putting out is a picture I saw on social media from the NBA Lagos Dinner.

The NBA Lagos Bar dinner expectedly had attendees from all over the country especially those rumoured to be interested in the next NBA elections. This is not unexpected as Lagos houses the most votes in the NBA. What is however unexpected is that a person will leave his branch dinner and attend the dinner of another branch all in the pursuit of votes. Desperation I think.

As a child growing up, I was told of the famous quote “charity begins at home”. It may seem as though for this rumoured aspirant, his charity begins away from home or could it be that this aspirant is so confident that godfathers will deliver his home branch to him that he decided to wander off to another branch?

What is equally puzzling is that in his home branch, it is rumoured that his successor in the office he once occupied at the Branch level is also gunning for the same National position. While one aspirant was conspicuously present in his home branch dinner, another was in a faraway land.

Lest I be accused of playing politics, I am only puzzled and willing to listen to any superior argument as to why attending another branch’s dinner is preferable to attending your own. If your child’s birthday falls on the same day as your wealthy neighbour’s birthday, surely, you will attend your child’s birthday and manage whatever little treats you can afford, you are not expected to waltz away to your neighbour’s house to enjoy the trappings of his wealth. To do so will be courting the wrath of a scorned child.

NBA Benin is at a crossroads and deserves representation at the National level in the next election cycle. It is my hope that the Benin Bar is watching and taking notes on how the rumoured aspirants treat their home branch. NBA Benin might be poor in comparison to Lagos Branch but we can manage our poverty after all over 1500 votes in Benin Branch is not a joke.

I remain truly yours,
Jude O. Ogbeide
Immediate Past Chairman, YLF Benin Bar