The leadership tussle rocking the Nigerian Institute of Welding has deepened as two rival groups continue to lay claim to the control of the professional body responsible for welding standards and certification in the country’s oil and gas sector.
The group led by Engr. Bijimi Gaiya and another by Solomon Edebiri had claimed legitimacy over the institute’s affairs.
In August, a group led by Professor Shehu Abdullahi Ma’aji, said to be an interim chairman of the NIW, held an annual general meeting at the Petroleum Training Institute Conference Centre in Effurun, Delta State. The meeting produced an interim committee led by Gaiya.
However, another group identified as the Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Institute of Welding dissociated the institute from the meeting, saying the AGM was held without authorisation.
The PUNCH had reported that the said Secretary of the NIW BoT, Dr Solomon Edebiri, described the gathering as “a shambolic exercise using the cover of an institution such as the NIW”.
Reacting in a statement yesterday, Gaiya accused Edebiri of a long history of spreading falsehoods to deceive unsuspecting stakeholders, adding that his group had been illegally parading themselves as NIW leaders despite the expiration of their tenure.
According to the caretaker leadership, Edebiri’s executive committee had ceased to exist over ten years ago, as the institute’s constitution limits an exco to two terms of three years each.
It alleged that since his tenure expired, Edebiri had continuously altered his titles—from NIW president to chairman, chief executive, and more recently, secretary of the board of trustees—without approval from the annual general meeting.
The statement further explained that due to alleged constitutional violations, failure to convene AGMs for several years, and suspected financial mismanagement, a court judgement delivered on January 15, 2025, ordered that an AGM be conducted to resolve outstanding issues.
It added that the court-directed meeting was held on August 29 in compliance with the ruling, and all members, including Edebiri, were duly invited.
It alleged that the former executive held NIW “to ransom for 19 years” without convening an AGM or conducting elections for new leadership, describing the situation as unconstitutional and a major factor behind the legal intervention.
The committee also claimed that at the last AGM, members raised concerns over alleged forgery, misappropriation of funds, and lack of accountability involving the former exco, issues it said were being studied for possible legal redress.
Gaiya urged Edebiri and his allies to desist from further actions capable of tarnishing efforts to rebuild the institute, saying, “In the interest of NIW, Solomon Edebiri must henceforth desist from further blasphemy against genuine efforts to resuscitate the institute.”
Earlier, Edebiri the August meeting did not emanate from the NIW, though they said Ma’aji, who conveyed the meeting, is a member of the board of trustees of the institute. He said by the NIW constitution, he does not have “the authority and mandate to act on behalf of the institute or take decisions for it, neither do Clement Eribo and Michael Adegbite, who are non-members of the BOT.”
“The said Ma’aji and Samaila decided to join non-members of the institute to form opposition in the bid to grab the authority of the institute illegally, thereby constituting themselves as renegade members of the BoT of the Nigeria Institute of Welding, and have illegally been attempting to interfere with the smooth management of the institute even against the decision of the court, which had earlier declared such meetings as illegal,” Edebiri said.
