Mr. Emeka Ngige, SAN, one of the presidential candidate in the just concluded
Nigerian Bar Association elections, has alleged that the election was
marred by serious irregularities. He claimed that the electoral process was
manipulated to favour some of the candidates in the election. He specifically complained about the
inclusion of names of deceased lawyers as delegates in list
as well as the accreditation of lawyers who were constitutionally not
qualified, Non- NEC members to be delegates.
Ngige said he would not go to court to seek for the nullification of the NBA election
“If I get the election nullified, it will not affect only the presidency, it will affect all the offices contested and there would be impasse which may make government to interfere."
Mr. Ngige's claim has seriously rattled NBA, which had made spirited attempt to refute the claims.
In denial the NBA said the names of the dead
lawyers were not intentionally included in the list in order to rig the
election.
The outgoing General Secretary of the NBA, Mr. Olumuyiwa Akinboro,
who spoke for the association, said the names were obtained from a
register of living lawyers published by the Supreme Court in May this
year. He also justified the inclusion of the names of wife and son of
the outgoing President of the NBA, Mr. Joseph Daudu, in the list of
voters.
According to him, whereas Daudu’s wife voted in her capacity as a
member of the NBA NEC, the son participated in the process due to his
position as the President of the Young Lawyers Association of Nigeria.
Mr. Ngige came second in just concluded election while Mr. Wali won the presidential seat.
