NBA : Osigwe Conderms Allegation Over Alleged Election Malpractice

President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Afam Osigwe has condemned the high spate of rumours making rounds in the public domain on alleged plans to rigg or manipulate the forthcoming election describing the situation as malicious and an attempt to tarnish the good image of the association.

In an interview with newsmen in Abuja, the president explained that it was quite unfortunate that some lawyers and candidates have chosen to come up with fabricated lies on alleged rigging even when the process has not commenced.

“As you all know, the NBA national officer’s election is scheduled to commence on 18th of July to end by midnight on the 19th of July. That election is to elect national officers, ten national officers who will take over from our current national executive committee slated for 28th of August, 2026.”

“It is unfortunate that some lawyers and some candidates have chosen to play fast with the truth alledging rigging even when the process has not commenced.

” If i take you down memory lane, when we had our National Executive Committee meeting in Benin, the members of the electoral committee was constituted in line with the constitutional provision which stipulates that National Executive Committee shall propose to members of our national executive council over election matters in the 2025 elections and was not opposed by any person.”

“There was no counter motion and it was a unanimous decision then. Surprisingly, some persons went to court in Ibadan, led by one Ibrahim Lawal the then chairman of NBA Ibadan.Who was also present at the meeting and did not oppose the composition but, now alleging that i read a list that NEC did not approve.”

“There were four plaintiffs in that matter who got an injunction of the court stopping the NBA from operating.They also got an injunction stopping the electoral committee from acting and alleging that I was biased, that because of that, NBA should not operate.”

“Strange enough too, in the second prayer granted by the court, the court restrained me, as the president, from convening a NEC meeting.”

“And you an NBA, which has been restrained from performing any function, should only accept and proceed with the nomination of one candidate, of the Egbe Amofi-Odua with the contention being that since we have zoning, and it’s been zoned to the southwest according to them and that no other person should be allowed to contest.”

“There is zoning to the west, because constitutionally, a person from Edo and Delta could also run. The court granted that injunction. And in granting that injunction, the court failed to take cognizance of the fact that Egbe Amofi-Odua is an association on his own with his own constitution, and has no right under the NBA constitution.”

“But we felt that there was a need to manage the situations. When the lawsuits were instituted and injunctions granted, I took the lawsuit processes to the Attorney General of the Federation AGF and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi for his intervention on possible resolutions that we don’t need to be in the Courts.”

“I am committed to seeing that we have a free, fair and transparent election. So that whoever loses, we know that he or she lost. And whoever wins, we know that he or she deserves to win.If we are to use the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) database, they will have a name mismatch and they will be unable to vote. And we cannot support any system or process that will disenfranchise our members.

“Tarnishing the image people have built over the years is totally uncalled for. I have never been part of any plan in aiding rigging.I have never planned it and don’t intend to. People are arguing, Mazi is trying to impose a candidate on the Bar. And yet there is a group of people that says we have endorsed one person, nobody should run against him.”

“I want a free and fair election and to show that the allegations against us of rigging the election is mere politics. People are repeating a lie to influence people’s minds.We have invited the DSS to come with their technical crew to overseer the process.”

“We are trying to build up an NBA that holds a credible election and hope that we are an example for the nation to copy and begging our members to stop frustrating the process, play clean politics and focus on the facts that true democracy must thrive.You can not choose or endorse only your candidate, others must have a right to contest.”

Garry Ochigbo, Edited By Grace Namiji