The Nigerian Bar As-sociation, NBA, is enmeshed in a fresh scandal following an allegation that two dead lawyers were among those that voted in the election the body conducted last Tuesday.
The said election which was held in Abuja, afforded the umbrella body of legal practitioners in the country, the opportunity to select those that will pilot the affairs of the association in the next two years.
The tenure of the incumbent national officers of the NBA led by Chief J.B Daudu, SAN, is due to expire in August.
However, barely three days after the election, one of those that contested for NBA presidency, Chief Emeka Ngige, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, has alleged that names of dead lawyers were used in rigging him out.
Ngige who came second after polling 449 votes, as against 688 votes that was garnered by the winner, Chief Okechukwu Wali, SAN, said he was shocked upon discovering that “names of deceased persons from Port Harcourt branch were added to the voters’ register.”
He gave names of the two deceased lawyers he identified from the voters register as, Chief Nwobidike Nwanodi, SAN and Chief C. A. B. Akparanta, SAN.
He further alleged that notwithstanding his application that the voters’ list be displayed 48 hours before the election as required by the rules, the list was only made public 24 hours before the election.
He said: “True to our fears, the displayed list was riddled with serious anomalies, irregularities and contradictions. The National Executive Committee (NEC) list was manipulated to include non-NEC members and even those who are constitutionally disqualified from being NEC members. For example, Mrs. Ranti Bosede Daudu and Mr. Paul “Tunde” Daudu, wife and son respectively of the incumbent NBA President, J. B. Daudu (NBA), were smuggled in as ‘NEC members’ without the mandatory approval by NEC as required by the NBA Constitution. In fact, Mr. Tunde Daudu is less than 10 years at the Bar and is therefore disqualified from becoming a NEC member.”
Nevertheless, the NBA, yesterday, dismissed his allegation as balderdash, saying it was convinced that Ngige must be suffering from either “post election stress, depression or failure of expectation.”
Addressing a press conference yesterday, NBA, through its outgoing General Secretary, Mr Olumuyiwa Akinboro, said it never knew that the two lawyers were dead, adding that their names were obtained from a register of living lawyers it said was published by the Supreme Court two months ago.
Insisting that the electoral process was free, fair and credible, NBA, maintained that contrary to the impression Ngige has created with the allegation, strict measures were taken with a view to ensuring that no delegate voted twice during the election, noting that tags issued to the voters had accompanying picture for easy identification.
Akinboro told newsmen that the NBA electoral committee would forward the election result to the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the organization, adding, “that is where the issues that has been raised by Ngige who is also a member of the NEC, will be tackled, not on the pages of the newspaper.”
He said though the NEC is billed to meet in 3 months time, however, the legal body decided to address the press on the issue so as to put the records straight.
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