PRESS RELEASE

We are concerned that President Bola Tinubu has brought his state-sponsored toxic politics of coronation to bear on the election of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

Curiously, this same strategy of imposition without allowing for free, fair and credible elections is what the Tinubu-led APC administration is working assiduously towards in the 2027 General Elections. To achieve this, the President is weakening opposition parties by instigating crises in the parties, destroying our democratic institutions and focused on rigging the elections.

Sadly, the wild seeds of coronation that is being sowed all over the place, has found accommodation in the NBA Election.

There have been media reports of how this government and its agents have resorted to the use of the courts to railroad members of the Bar into settling for its preferred candidate. This, to say the least, is a dangerous precedent that is capable of widening our fault lines, which this administration’s politics has turned into craters.

What is playing out in the NBA is clearly a confirmation that what Tinubu cannot compromise does not exist.

We wish to state that NBA Election remains the sole responsibility of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) appointed by the NBA NEC. This has been the practice under the NBA Constitution, 2015 (as amended).

By seeking to enthrone its preferred candidate by armtwisting the NBA to disqualify two of the prospective candidates, the Tinubu presidency was simply adopting its play book to have the candidates of the opposition parties disqualified through the instrunentality of the courts and the electoral umpire.

We wish to sound a note of warning to officials of the Tinubu government who are still desperate in achieving a preconceived result to give the NBA a break to organise a democratic election that will pave the way for a smooth transition of power. That is something that Tinubu may eventually learn from.

It is disgraceful and a negation of democracy that inspite of the failed efforts to shift the polls, even with the open support of the Attorney General of the Federation, officials of government are now deploying security agents to arrest service providers and frustrate the election.

This desperation shows how the Tinubu-led APC government plans to use government agencies to rig the 2027 general elections.

Signed:
Atiku Media Office
Abuja
16 July 2026.