NBA election: Diary of a controversial poll

Some of the past presidential candidates of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), in recent times, had always traded words when they lost election, but not to the point of asking for a re-run. That is exactly what Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN) has just done. Not only that he rejected the result of the election, which declared his opponent, Abubakar Mamoud (SAN), winner, he also threatened to sue the NBA if a re-run was not ordered.Making good that threat is a bad omen for the largest union of lawyers in Africa. In this report, Joseph Onyekwere highlights some of the issues that gave rise to the conflict.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is the largest group of legal practitioners in Africa and arguably one of the biggest umbrella body of lawyers in the world. The NBA has a rich history steeped in advocacy and activism. For example, the association was in the forefront of the battle to wrestle Nigeria’s political power from the military. It was in word and deed a perennial thorn in the flesh of dictators, chastising the enemies of state through a multiplicity of stratagems. The association prides itself as “a principled, people-centered organization, which takes with all seriousness, its leading role in advancing the reform of Nigeria’s laws, strengthening her access to justice institutions and promoting the rule of law and good governance.”

Lately, however, the NBA has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Its recent general election, despite taking a new course, which is the introduction of the e-voting, has all the trappings of the past two editions, where allegations of sleaze, rigging and padding of ballots were rife. In light of a strident challenge being mounted by aggrieved presidential candidate in the just concluded election, Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN), stakeholders are getting worried about the fate of the noble Association, whose motto is ‘promoting the rule of law.’

NBA President, Mr. Augustine Alegeh(SAN) had at the National Executive Committee meeting of February 18, 2016 in Jos lifted the ban on political activities. No sooner was this done than interested candidates hit the campaign trail. Though the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) had issued guidelines reminding aspirants of the ban on campaign trips to branches among others, it was generally observed in breach, as aspirants traversed the entire country to woo voters. The campaign itinerary was so choking that one of the candidates, reportedly had to deploy a private jet for campaign related activities.

Aside from branches, which had traditionally played crucial roles in NBA elections, regional fora and groupings also weighed in on the campaigns. The same for Bar leaders who lined up especially behind the presidential candidates of their choice. Instructively, unlike previous elections when one could easily classify the camps as either “conservative” or “progressive,” the criss-crossing of key Bar leaders across these divides to throw their weights behind their preferred presidential candidate made it almost difficult to identify any ideological divide between the candidates. This is notwithstanding the tagging of a particular presidential candidate as the favourite of the ‘cabals’. Moreso, the allegation that the leadership of the NBA is supporting the candidate was common.

The accusation of partisanship against the NBA president heightened as the election approached. It got to a point that the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) was compelled to wade in, to stem the political tide. In an apparent bid to abort a major crisis that could balkanize the lawyers’ body, the BOSANmandated Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) to interface with the NBA President towards convening a meeting of past presidents of the association to save the controversial elections. Although, Alegeh convened the meeting, it was not clear if it actually succeeded in calming frayed nerves, as the allegations persisted.

Olanipekun had, in his letter to Alegeh, which conveyed BOSAN’s decision, urged him to shun acts that could throw the association into another round of crisis reminiscent of the 1992 debacle. He noted that he was equally a victim of the hiccups that had bedeviled the electoral process, adding that it was his complaint in his earlier letter to Alegeh that got his name into the voters’ register. The former NBA president said: “I see no reason why the name of any legal practitioner who is up to date in the payment of his national and branch dues should be missing on the voters register.”

Section 2.3(h) of the NBA Constitution 2015 provides that “the Electoral Committee shall collate all materials, arrange them in alphabetical order without regard for the position being sought and publish them in an electronic Election Magazine to be hosted on the NBA website at least twenty one (21) days before the election.” This timeline was not met. Section 2.3 (d) of the NBA Constitution also provides that “the full list of all legal practitioners qualified to vote shall be published by ECNBA in conjunction with the National Secretariat of the NBA at least 28 days before the date of the election,” some lawyers said the final voters register kept changing even hours after the commencement of voting, as voting and accreditation ran concurrently, contrary to the provisions of the constitution.

Critics said many lawyers could not get their names on the voters’ register. This was due to their inability to either update their profiles on the draft voters register or because ECNBA failed to send the accreditation links to them. “When everyone thought that the election managers were almost getting it right, the voters’ register was curiously returned to the branches for lawyers to again update their profiles,” said one of the lawyers in the Lagos branch of the NBA, who wished to be anonymous. Some election watchers claimed that the election managers lost the database and were tactically trying to recover same. The effect was that of the total of 24,305 lawyers eligible to vote, only 11,646 lawyers got their records updated. Of the lot, only 6,932 lawyers were accredited to vote.

It was reported that Bar leaders such as, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) and Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN) among others, had to make phone calls to Alegeh; ECNBA Chairman, Mr. Kenneth Mozia (SAN) and the Managing Director of Law Pavilion/Grace Infotech Limited, the ICT Partner, Mr. Ope Olugasa to be able to be listed on the voters’ register. A number of other lawyers with less influence were not so lucky. Although ECNBA eventually advertised a toll-free election help line late into the election period, it didn’t meet the expectation of the voters.

While voting opened on time, controversies soon trailed the entire process. Eligible voters who were unable to receive their accreditation links to enable them vote, began to bemoan their fate, while some voters said they were unable to locate their preferred candidates on the voting portal. Also, the election portal allegedly issued ballot receipts with different formats, giving expresssion to the allegation that two election portals were running concurrently during the polls.

At the close of polls at midnight on Sunday, all hell was let loose. Gadzama supporters began to smell a rat and wondered why it took the election managers about one-and-half hours to unveil the results, given that the election was done by electronic voting. They alleged that the time lag enabled the NBA leadership and the election managers to swap the votes in favour of Mahmoud, moreso, as none of the agents of the candidates, were part of the collation and vote audit process. However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) were accredited as election observers, in addition to the Microsoft Corporation, whose role, lawyers say, was not very clear to them.

According to ECNBA, Mahmoud polled 3,055 votes to defeat Gadzama, who got 2,384 votes. Mr. Caleb Gal Dajan, First Vice President; Mr. Monday Ubani, Second Vice President and Mr. Benedict Oji, Third Vice President were all returned unopposed. Mr. Isiaka Olagunju polled 2,721 votes to beat Mr. Desmond Yamah who garnered 2,510 votes. The post of First Assistant Secretary went to Mr. Okey, while Mr. Leo Ohagba polled 2,402 votes to beat Mr. Olukunle Edun (1653 votes.) Mr. Enebi Mohammed Salihu polled 1,067 votes to place third. Ugbuji Cecilia Ngede, Second Assistant Secretary; Oyeyemi Rafiu Balogun, Legal Adviser; Adesina Adegbite, Welfare Secretary; Ado Aisha Abdullahi, Treasurer; Dorcas Ngwu, Assistant Financial Secretary; Ngozi Udodi, Financial Secretary, and Chuwuemeka Mbamala, Assistant Publicity Secretary were also declared winners.

At the moment, Gadzama had in a letter to the NBA leadership rejected the results and asked for a re-run or he would sue the NBA. On the other hand, the body has referred his grievances to its Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC). But Gadzama supporters have argued that the DRC is illegal and unconstitutional, having not received the blessing of the recent NBA National Executive Committee meeting in Benin. Section 12(3)(a) of the NBA Constitution 2015 provides that “The (Standing) Committees shall be constituted by the National Executive Committee on the advice of the President.” The committee is headed by former NBA president, Mr. Okey Wali (SAN).

However, the election managers and the service provider argue that the hiccups were teething problems that are bound to occur in testing any new system. It is perhaps, in line with this thinking that former NBA president, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) had urged Gadzama “to take the election results in good faith” and save the Association from a devastating crisis.

But former NBA Legal Adviser, Mr. Victor Nwaugo sharply disagrees. For him, Gadzama should approach the courts for redress. His words: “Gadzama should please approach the court to rescue the Bar. Twenty four years after Port Harcourt crisis, no much lesson has been learnt. Those who are pleading for political solution are the same people who corner fat Election Petition cases when politicians come knocking!” he stated, insisting that the election process was compromised.