Lawyers in the South West, under the aegis of Egbe Amofin, yesterday, called on the Body of Benchers to cancel the recent election of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA.
The legal practitioners alleged that the process, leading to the election of the executive members, was fraught with irregularities.
The group, in a statement by its Chairman and Secretary, Chief Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, and Oluwole Akintayo, respectively, noted that the electoral server was allegedly loaded with predetermined data.
While calling for the constitution of a caretaker committee to conduct fresh elections within six months, the lawyers said: “The 2020 election of national officers was conducted in breach and flagrant violation of the mandatory provisions of the NBA constitution and its electoral guidelines in several material particulars.”
The statement reads: “Over 4,000 ‘voters’ appeared on the emergency voters’ list used for the election and these ghost voters have no identifiable branches or are not linked or traceable to any branch. From time immemorial, every member of the NBA is attached or linked or registered with a particular branch and this is very sacrosanct.
“It is also mandatory that any member of the NBA must not only pay the annual practicing fee to the national association through the Supreme Court of Nigeria but also pay the local branch dues and other charges; otherwise such member can neither enjoy any facility or privilege in the association nor apply for or occupy the statutory position, including applying for the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN or seeking to go to the Bench.”
