Court hears suit against NBA election today
Lawyers drum support for Gadzama
An Abuja High Court will today July 19 hear the suit filed by the former Assistant National Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Unachukwu John against the association over the conduct of the forthcoming NBA general elections.
Trial judge in the matter is Justice M. E. Anenih.Defendants in the suit are Registered Trustees of the NBA, NBA President Augustine Alegeh (SAN), Chairman Electoral Committee of the NBA Ken Mozia (SAN), Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN) and Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN).
The plaintiff in the suit is asking the court to restrain the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants, their agents employees, proxies and anybody acting on
their behalf, from conducting the NBA National Officers’ Election by Internet Voting (I-voting) on July 30 and 31, 2016 or any other date pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
The plaintiff is praying the court to determine “Whether the NBA’s constitution 2015, requires or even recognises Internet Voting or Voting
over Internet (I-voting) in the 2016 NBA General Elections as currently proposed by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants.
“Whether the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) can rightly judge and correctly conclude, that the state of available technology and the information technology infrastructure of all branches of the NBA can adequately support Voting over Internet (I-voting) at the 2016 NBA general elections?”He asked among other issues for determination.
Meanwhile, a group of lawyers, under the aegis of Lawyers for Sustainable Democracy (LSD), has called on its members to support the candidature of Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN), for the president of the NBA.
Adressing the media after a meeting held in Kano, the National Coordinator of the group, Mr. Mohammed Zubair said they arrived at the conclusion after thorough assessment of JK Gadzama (SAN) and his opponent, AB Mahmoud (SAN).
“We have held our meeting and we came to know that all the contestants are qualified for the position. But we have agreed to unanimously back the candidature of Gadzama . We have gone through his manifesto and we have seen that it aligns with our aims and objectives as an association of lawyers working for sustainable democracy,” Zubair said.
Zubair furtheradded that they have seen what Gadzama planned for the upcoming lawyers who were the future of the legal profession in the country.The association further called on the current NBA leadership to heed to a call made by the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) to organize open, transparent and peaceful election, so as to maintain its known integrity and fair play.
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1 Comments
The next Annual General Conference of the Bar willl be held in Port Harcourt. With the 1992 episode leading to NBA been in comatose for years, will one not be right to say the City is assuming its old role of being the Waterloo of the Nigerian Bar Association? If the election imbroglio is not properly handled there could be another comatose or fragmentation of body of lawyers like accountants in Nigeria. One hopes that good reasoning will come to bear. Lets vote manually in individual branches. The Bar is greater than individual!
We will review and take appropriate action.