Gadzama kicks as NBA electoral umpire declares Mamoud president-elect

Agbakoba urges candidate to accept defeat

A presidential candidate in the just concluded election of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN), has rejected the result of the exercise, which declared his opponent, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) winner.

In a statement, the Director General and Secretary of Gadzama Campaign Organisation, Garba Mohammed Gajam and Steve Abar, respectively said the election was not credible and therefore should be cancelled.

“We hereby reject the results of the elections and call for the immediate cancellation of the same for failing to be credible, transparent, free and fair, and for failing to comply with the provisions of the NBA Constitution and the Electoral Guidelines.

“We also call for the conduct of fresh electronic (and not internet) elections, that will be credible, transparent, free and fair and in compliance with the provisions of the NBA Constitution and the Electoral Guidelines,” they said.

The campaign organisation further stated that it is taking its position because all the concerns raised before and during the election were not addressed by the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), alleging that the electoral umpire ‘worked’ for the declared winner.

“Having reviewed the situation and circumstances before and during the elections, to wit: the non-credibility of the elections; the lack of transparency; the non- automatic collation of the results on the display screen; the open partisanship of Mr. Austin Alegeh (SAN), who worked with the ECNBA for the declared winner; and the delay for over one hour 20 minutes before releasing the results after the close of polls at 12 midnight on Sunday, July 31, 2016 – all these in total disregard for the concerns we had hitherto raised in our previous correspondence with the ECNBA, we therefore reject the result of the election.”

ECNBA, in its first ever internet election, signaling the beginning of the adoption of universal suffrage system of e-voting, introduced by Alegeh’s administration, said Mahmoud scored 3055 votes to defeat his closest rival, Gadzama with 2384 votes.

Meanwhile, a former president of the association, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) has called on Gadzama to concede defeat in the interest of the NBA.

In a statement yesterday, he said: “As a former President of the NBA, I urge the Gadzama Campaign Organisation to take the election results in good faith. It will not be in our interest to create challenges for our association. The newly introduced voting system may have had challenges, but it was an innovative easy voting procedure.

“I understand the reaction of the Campaign Organisation. However, it is important to protect the integrity of NBA. At this stage, what we need as an association is unity. I appeal to the Gadzama Campaign Organisation to accept the election results in good faith and accept Mahmoud as our new President.”