NOWELA President:

Bobga Harmony dismissed and reinstated

Harmony Bobga

Executives of the North West Lawyers’ Association (NOWELA) have reversed a vote of no confidence passed the day before against their president Harmony Bobga.

                In a statement Thursday last week, the executives said they had come back on the vote in respect of the group’s constitution but did not elaborate.

                Bobga was dismissed from his position Tuesday while attending a meeting in Yaounde. The prime minister set up the meeting to end a strike that has disrupted courts in the South West and North West regions for over two months.

                In an “emergency resolution”, seven NOWELA executives accused Bobga of attending the meeting against the decision to stay away, which an “emergency” general assembly reached in Bamenda the day before.

                In an earlier communique Monday, NOWELA had objected to the composition and venue of the meeting and made the release of dozens of arrested young protesters a condition for their participation.

                The Prime Minister’s Office adjusted the composition of the ad hoc committee to include lawyers’ leaders from the South West but nothing else changed.

NOWELA executives also accused Bobga of making “undisclosed outings and meetings”, citing a highly controversial meeting he held with business magnate Baba Danpullo at is ranch in Ndawara.

                The lawyers said, “Bobga is prohibited from any further representation of NOWELA and any acts of omissions undertaken by him from this date shall not bind us.”

                But the lawyers rapidly reversed their decision when it was feared it would cast a shadow on the meeting in Yaounde, the first by the ad hoc committee set up by Prime Minister Philemon Yang to look into lawyers grievances. The meeting however flopped.