The Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the Nigeria Bar Association (ECNBA) Mr. Ayodele Akintude SAN on Friday June 24, 2022, held another hybrid public briefing in a bid to keep the public abreast of its activities in relation to the forthcoming elections of the National elections of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA).
The virtual meeting was facilitated by the Finess Technology who served as technical support consultant for the hybrid briefing, witnessed the presence of all members of the ECNBA.
Delivering his introductory remarks, the chairman of ECNBA, Akintude SAN stated that meeting was premised on the need to keep the public on the workings of the committee so far as regards the upcoming National elections.
One of the details established by ECNBA in the briefing was their plan to organize a virtual debate for all candidates contesting for the National offices of the NBA. Remarking on this plan, the chairman stated thus: “It will be a one day event and this is the one guaranteed debate we will all do.”
As regards the date and how it intends to take place, he continued thus: “I cannot say the date of debate for now, but in coming week, we will roll out the time table for that; we are simply trying to ensure neutrality of the persons rolling out the questions to avoid allegations of bias.”
Furthermore, the ECNBA named the company that shall serve as a tech consultant for the 2022 NBA voting process. According to the chairman, the committee had settled with a tech company “Inis Limited” who will work in partnership with a U.S company called “Election body” on the election process. The committee made it known that Inis was chosen after a painstaking review of the proposals submitted by four (4) companies.
Commenting on complains as regard the list of qualified members that can vote, Akintude SAN stated thus: “all complaints were urged to be directed to the NBA; we are therefore, giving everyone till June 27, so anybody who has not complained till june 27, will not further opportunity to do so.”
As regards the distribution of materials by candidates, it was the strong warning of the committee that Candidates do not distribute any new material that it didn’t submit to the committee which has been published by the committee on its official website.
“Now, let me point out that we as a committee do not have problems with you sharing your campaign materials but DO NOT generate new materials that are not on the ECNBA website submitted by you.” The chairman said. According to him, doing so would amount to a gross violation of the constitution and result to outright disqualification. Aisha Ado, a member of the ECNBA went on to buttress this point stating thus:
“The Constitution allows you to campaign in the way the constitution stipulates and not how we feel.” She also added that committee will however come back to the issue with more clarifications and guidance to enable candidates have a level playing ground.
The committee established that the NBA elections is scheduled to hold on July 16th, 2022 and therefore that all manner it campaign MUST close 47 hours to election day.
The ECNBA members present were Mr. Ayodele Akintude SAN (Chairman), Mrs. Mabel Ekeke (Secretary), Hajia Aisha Ado Abdullahi, Mr. Basil Udota, Prof Chidi Odinkalu (Members). Finess technology was represented by Akin Akinrulewe, the tech consultant.
