The Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) will tomorrow respond to allegations that a presidential candidate in the forthcoming NBA elections has a close relationship with the chairman of the ICT company that will manage the elections
ECNBA chairman Prof. Auwalu Yadudu told The Nation that the Committee will respond after meeting with the NBA President, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud (SAN) a day before Mahmoud meets stakeholders to address the issue
He said: “Our perspective is that we don’t want to say anything formal until we meet. We are meeting with NBA president a day before the president meets stakeholders to address this issue. We will have a formal position a day before he meets them.”
The NBA President will on Thursday meet with stake-holders, including service providers to resolve the issue.
Lawyers have expressed mixed feelings on the capacity of the company to deliver a credible election for the association in the light of the allegations.
In his reaction to this, J. S. Okutepa (SAN) said: “NBA as a professional Association of noble men and women must be careful not to conduct its elections in circumstances that will create doubts in the minds of the right-thinking members of the society.
“The news that one of the candidates in the forthcoming elections has connections with persons or group of persons providing ICT services in the elections must not be treated with levity.
“This should worry any right-thinking members of the Bar. Justice is rooted in confidence
“The reason a former firm was not selected, as information had it, was because of the pending litigation in respect of the election it conducted for NBA in the past.
“Can NBA afford another litigation, arising from the 2018 elections? Bar leaders must do something to save NBA from the embarrassment this will cause the profession.
“It is high time NBA and it’s leadership engendered the confidence of Nigerians by avoiding act or omission that tends to suggest that the NBA has an agenda that seems to be less than transparent,” he said.
According to an Abuja lawyer, Mr. Silas J.J. Onu, the election’s credibility would suffer if the allegations are not addressed.
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