CITY LAWYER yesterday received high praise from the Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), Prof. Auwalu Yadudu. The electoral committee chairman commended CITY LAWYER for its accuracy and professionalism in reporting the troubled NBA Elections.

While responding to an enquiry by CITY LAWYER, Yadudu said: “Thanks for staying with the process and reporting it as accurately as possible.”

The austere law teacher was recently jolted when news filtered in that he had allegedly resigned. Yadudu promptly debunked the allegation, demanding a retraction of the report .

It is recalled that CITY LAWYER had in an exclusive report https://citylawyermag.com/2018/07/12/nba-hires-usoros-co-directors-firm-as-ict-partner-for-elections/ to herald its relaunch stated that a leading presidential candidate in the elections was a co-director with the Chairman of CHAMS Plc, the ICT Partner hired by the NBA to anchor the election.

The report generated concerns in the industry, leading to an extensive inquest. This culminated in a meeting of the Committee of Past NBA Presidents and Secretaries chaired by NBA President, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud SAN. The meeting made far-reaching decisions which brought about wide-ranging electoral reforms and a paradigm shift in the NBA electoral system.

Reeling out the reforms, Mahmoud informed the legal community that the electoral process would henceforth be dis-aggregated into three phases to restore confidence of all stakeholders in the system and ensure that the election is free, fair and credible. Instead of a single ICT Partner, each stage of the electoral process – verification, accreditation/voting and audit – will be handled by separate entities.

Also, for the first time in the annals of NBA Elections, candidates and their ICT consultants were given significant access into the inner workings of the electoral committee. Although this has kept the ECNBA and its consultants on their toes and led to several shifts in the election timelines, the measure has bolstered stakeholder confidence in the hitherto controversial NBA electoral regime. It is recalled that the 2016 NBA Elections is being contested in court due to charges of irregularities and rigging.

CITY LAWYER has also initiated its “CITY LAWYER ELECTION SERVICE” which tries to educate the electorate on key aspects of the electoral process, and for which the legal blog has received high praise from some beneficiaries. For instance, following a notice by CITY LAWYER announcing that the ECNBA Help Desk had been activated, some eligible voters who were able to access the desk subsequently wrote to heap words of praise and appreciation on the legal blog.

Voting in the NBA Election will hold on August 19 and 20, 2018.

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