• Conducts Test Run for Mahmoud, ECNBA
• Presidential Candidates Absent
• 36,000 on Voters’ List
• 12, 000 Voters Verified

The fate of CHAMS Plc as the ICT Partner for the forthcoming Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) National Officers Election may be decided tomorrow following a deadlocked meeting today.

Although NBA President, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud SAN had invited the presidential candidates in the election to plot the way forward for the election following concerns on the choice of CHAMS as the ICT partner, the absence of some of the candidates aborted the parley. It has now been rescheduled to tomorrow at 10 o’clock.

A source close to the meeting told CITY LAWYER that while the meeting commenced around 3:10 pm, Chief Arthur Obi Okafor SAN arrived the meeting around 3 pm. On his part, Mr. Paul Usoro SAN came in later, pleading flight hitches. Prof. Ernest Ojukwu SAN had reportedly sent in an apology earlier, pleading that he would also be late for the meeting. Our source however said that he did not arrive until the meeting dispersed around 6 pm. It was unclear at press time if he boycotted the meeting.

This saw CHAMS making a test run of the voting system to only the National Officers led by Mahmoud as well as all Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) members.

The source told CITY LAWYER that CHAMS was put on the spot as several concerns were raised by the panel which identified “lots of lapses” in the process. The panel was concerned about verification by proxies, noting that some lawyers without call to bar or enrolment numbers were verified. These queries, the source added, made some officers to take the popular ICT firm to task on its capacity to deliver a flawless and rancor-free electoral system to NBA.

It was also gathered that while about 36, 000 eligible voters were on the original voters’ register, only about 12, 000 or 33 per cent were verified. An additional 1, 800 voters’ verification remain inchoate, as they are yet to fully complete the exercise.

CITY LAWYER had exclusively reported that the Chairman of CHAMS, Dr. (Mrs.) Ajoritsedere Josephine Awosika is a co-director at Access Bank Plc with one of the presidential candidates for the election.

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