The reason why Nigerian singer Portable was included on their roster for the 2023 Annual General Conference (AGC) has been disclosed by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Read Full Article
On Thursday night, a lot of online users criticized the NBA for allowing Portable to perform at their gathering of "learned" individuals. They said that the choice had an impact on the organization's reputation and diminished its respectability.
The event was viewed by some as a farce and a disgrace to the traditionally conservative legal profession.
Akorede Lawal, the NBA's national publicity secretary, revealed in an interview with the Punch Newspaper on Friday that Portable's attendance at the event was related to the collaboration between Billionaire Entrepreneur Obi Cubana and the program as its headline sponsor.
He continued by saying that the Cubana Group brought Portable since he served as one of their Odogwu bitters brand ambassadors.
He said that as the conference's main sponsor, they were in charge of arranging for a guest artist to play at the event's closing "Unbarred concert," which is customarily attended by lawyers of all ranks.
We did not spend any money to ensure Portable's appearance for the concert, Lawal expressly declared.
The NBA's Annual General Conference is the largest gathering of legal professionals anywhere in the world, thus we work with sponsors to fund all aspects of our events financially.
Lawal responded to rumors that attorneys at the gathering organized a walkout while Portable was performing. He disclosed that the concert was initially scheduled to be held at Friendship Center.
The Velodrome at the National Stadium in Abuja was chosen as the new location at the last minute.
Lawal explained the change of site by saying, "The Friendship Centre acts as a nexus where lawyers convene for socializing, networking, and other activities. The concert was originally supposed to take place there.
To avoid competing events at the Friendship Centre, which had already been set up to promote various brands, we later suggested that the legal professionals move to the "Unbarred concert" at the Velodrome.