• Candidates Shut Out of Reconciliation Exercise
• 5050 Eligible Voters Verified

There are strong indications that CRENET Techlabs is yet to conclude the clean-up of the final voters’ register following the end of the verification exercise, CITY LAWYER can report.

When CITY LAWYER sought an update on the ongoing reconciliation of the troubled verification exercise from Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) Chairman, Prof. Auwalu Yadudu, the embattled law teacher stated tersely: “We are working on that and will revert back to you later today.”

Also, when CITY LAWYER visited the NBA website, only the “2018 Final Voter List– National Officers Elections” emanating from the ECNBA notice dated June 29, 2018 and containing 32, 288 names was on the website.

Meanwhile, CITY LAWYER can also report that all the candidates in the forthcoming Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) National Officers Elections have been shut out of the reconciliation exercise by the ECNBA.

Again, only 5050 eligible voters were verified prior to the suspension of the exercise by the ECNBA. A source who is familiar with the process told CITY LAWYER that CRENET Techlabs, the ICT Partner for the verification exercise, was only able to capture 5050 voters before the portal was shut down for redesigning.

It is recalled that ECNBA had suspended the exercise following huge outcry and petitions from several branches that most of their members were yet to be verified even as the initial deadline drew near. This led to the redesigning of the verification portal into a more “user-friendly” model that allowed eligible voters to upload critical personal information on the website.

Following the latest verification exercise, the ECNBA had slated the “reconciliation” to commence immediately after the close of verification.

In the notice issued by ECNBA, it had stated that “Reconciliation of the verified data shall take place from 12th to 15th August 2018,” adding that “The final verified list will be published on the NBA website on the 16th August 2018 (today).”

However, while many had expected that the reconciliation exercise would be done jointly by the ECNBA and the candidates’ ICT experts, CITY LAWYER can report that this was not the case.

A key candidate in the elections told CITY LAWYER last night that “We were not part of the reconciliation exercise. It is being done at the back-end. Nobody (candidate) is involved. It is tomorrow that we will get the outcome of the entire verification exercise.”

It was unclear at press time whether the candidates will be allowed to raise objections on the “final verified list” after its publication by the ECNBA.

The ECNBA had while extending the verification exercise also stated that “Election will hold from 19th to 20th of August 2018,” adding that “Further guidelines on the voting modalities shall be issued.”

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