Olumide Akpata, the outgoing president of the Nigerian Bar Association, said lawyers involved in vandalizing conference booths, stealing phones and attacking staff would be prosecuted.
Akpata made the statement on Thursday at its ongoing annual main conference.
He further explained the delay in the delivery of the conference bag during the event.
“No one said we will not encounter difficulties in life but the hall mark is how quickly do we resolve such difficulties.”
“Gentlemen of the Bar, I thank you so much. It can only get better”, he said.
In a video that went viral on Wednesday, lawyers were seen destroying conference booths and robbing conference equipment on Tuesday night.
Lawyers attending the ongoing 62nd Annual Meeting of the Nigeria Bar Association protested the inadequate provision of conference materials on Tuesday, with some of them being unable to obtain conference bags.
Some lawyers complained about the non-availability of conference materials despite their regular presence at the Accreditation Center, which many delegates said disappointed them.
However, despite the large number of lawyers queuing for bags, the distribution process was slow.
Lawyers later began to irritate, citing accusations that even the security guards could not contain, and the accreditation center was not only flooded, but vandalized with lawyers hauling out loot and conference materials.
NBA-AGC lawyers and delegates were angered by the distribution of conference bags, vandalism of registration booths, and looting of other conference materials.
In one video that was watched, lawyers were seen vandalizing registration booths and choosing items of their choice as conference bags were unavailable.
