About 17, 000 lawyers participated in this weekend’s election of the new executives of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) which held over the weekend.
The election produced Paul Usoro (SAN) as the new president, alongside 14 other national officers of the association.
According to the result announced by the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA), led by Professor Auwalu Yadudu, on Monday, Usoro polled 4, 509 votes against his closest rival, Arthur Obi-Okafor (SAN), who got 4, 423 votes. Prof. Ernest Ojukwu (SAN) polled 3313 votes.
Usoro’s emergence is a shock outcome considering the adoption of Okafor as the Eastern Bar Forum’s preferred candidate.
The campaigns revealed the existence of four invisible blocs in the Eastern Zone: Anambra-Enugu; Abia-Imo; Rivers-Bayelsa; and Akwa-Cross.
While Ojukwu’s camp made case for the Abia-Imo bloc, Usoro’s group argued that the Akwa-Cross bloc had never tasted the coveted office of the professional body.
Both the Anambra-Enugu and Rivers-Bayelsa blocs had in the recent past occupied the office.
There are allegations of discrepancies in the Voters’ List with about 4,000 emails alleged to be fake.
ECNBA Secretary, Bolaji Agoro, in a statement on Thursday, said the verified list would be handed over to the ICT provider for e-voting.
The election held for over two days from noon of Saturday, August 18, to midnight of Sunday 19, and was done by e-voting after the abrogation of the delegates’ voting system.
The screening, accreditation and verification of lawyers for the election was a knotty issue since the commencement of the electoral process with the disqualification of several candidates, including presidential candidate, Mazi Afam Osigwe, who has since gone to court.
But the ECNBA explained that the screening of candidates and accreditation and verification of voters followed the requirement of the law, especially by lists submitted by the branches, the enrolment list for lawyers at the Supreme Court and criteria set out for eligibility to vote.
The initial ICT company appointed to handle the election, Charms Plc, attracted protests from candidates leading to the appointment of Crenet Techlabs Ltd, which initially accredited 32,000 lawyers, which is higher than the 28,000 for the previous election.
However, for the first time the election, which was postponed three times, held outside the month of July as provided in Article 2.3(a) of the Second Schedule of the NBA Constitution, 2015.
The three candidates contested for the presidential position which was zoned to the Eastern Zone in line with the zoning arrangement of the association.
30 other cleared candidates vied for the remaining 13 national offices of the NBA: First, Second and Third Vice Presidents, Secretary General, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Second Assistant Secretary, Assistant Financial Secretary, Publicity Secretary, Assistant Publicity Secretary, Welfare Officer and Legal Adviser.
The winner will be inaugurated at the Annual General Conference (AGC) billed to hold from August 27, replacing Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) who defeated Joe Kyari-Gadzama (SAN) in the 2015 election which was zoned to the North.
The officers returned with him are: Caleb Gal Dajan (First Vice President), Onyekachi Ubani (Second Vice President), Benedict Oji (Third Vice President), Isiaka Olagunju (General Secretary) among others.
The NBA, which has over 100,000 members and at least 45,000 practicing members in 125 branches, is the largest professional association in Nigeria. This explains why the elections are some of the most keenly contested professional elections.
The NBA is the activist arm of the judiciary which, apart from regulating the conduct of lawyers, ensures the upholding of the principle of separation of power and the rule of law in the country.
With its 16 committees and partnerships with international NGOs, the NBA is expected to contribute to the conduct of the 2019 general elections, as well as continue to ensure the enthronement of sustainable democracy in Nigeria.
