The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Election Appeal Committee (West) has upheld the disqualification of chairmanship aspirant Blessing Ene by the NBA Ikorodu Branch Election Committee, leaving three candidates to head into the forthcoming branch chairmanship elections.

CITY LAWYER gathered that Ene was disqualified on the basis of “the inability of her sponsor to meet the requirement of attendance at meetings and not his post call age.”

Meanwhile, the committee has upheld the appeal of Olawunmi Adeola over her disqualification as a chairmanship candidate. Adeola will now head into the tripodal poll against Ezeikel Ogbaide and Adebowale Aromolaran for the chairmanship race.

In its ruling, the committee held that “Blessing Ene Esq., was rightly disqualified by the Committee as her sponsor did not meet the Constitutional requirements for attendance at meetings contained in Article 14 of the Uniform byelaw for Branches, Sections and Fora.”

On Adeola, the committee held that the “substance” of her appeal was whether her sponsor “in the name of Theresa Ngozi Ojeikere is one and the same person as Tessy Ngozi Osakwe.”

Ruling on the appeal which had a similar ground as another appeal by branch Publicity Secretary candidate Lukman Jaiyeola, the committee held as follows: “the Committee by a unanimous decision of members hereby allow the appeals, set aside the decision of the Branch Election Committee of the Ikorodu Branch and direct that:

“a. Theresa Ngozi Ojeikere is one and the same as Tessy Ngozi Osakwe; Osakwe being her maiden surname more so that the Ikorodu Branch at different times have addressed the same person by both names

“b. There is no inconsistence (sic) as to the owner and holder of the Branch Dues receipt issued in the name of Theresa Ngozi Ojeikere, and the attendance register in the name of Tessy Ngozi Osakwe as they are one and the same person

“c. The disqualification of the Appellants on the sole ground of inconsistency in the name of the sponsor, Theresa Ngozi Ojeikere vis a vis, the contents of Annexure F1 and F2, the explanation by the Branch Financial secretary who issued the Branch receipt under reference, is improper.

“d. The Appellants, Adeola Olawunmi Esq and Lukman Jaiyeola Esq., were properly sponsored by Theresa Ngozi Ojeikere also known as Tessy Ngozi Osakwe.

“ORDER: That Adeola Olawunmi Esq., and Lukman Jaiyeola Esq., having been wrongly disqualified by the Election Committee, their disqualification from contesting the position of Chairman and Publicity Secretary respectively, is hereby quashed. We hereby reinstate Adeola Olawunmi Esq., and Lukman Jaiyeola Esq,. to the electioneering process/ballot.”

The Vice Chairmanship race is a straight fight between fiery Akinola Olajide and Olamipo Kazim while Michael Olamona and Khany Thany will slug it out for the position of Branch Secretary.

Esther Afolabi and Sophia Osobase will duel for the position of Social Secretary while the disqualification of Lukman Jaiyeola as the sole aspirant for the position of Publicity Secretary was annulled by the Appeal Committee.

CITY LAWYER investigation shows that other candidates who have won their positions as sole candidates even before the opening of the ballot are Omobisola Adetula (Financial Secretary); Tiwatope Ebinum (Treasurer); Victoria Onerije (Welfare Secretary), and Monsurat Ayeni (Assistant Secretary).

The Appeal committee has Mr. Ama Etuwewe, SAN as Chairman while Catherine Ogunjebi is the Secretary. Other members are Dele Oloke (Alternate Chairman), Rotimi Olorunfemi, Folake Abiodun, Dotun Adetunji, K. Ajose, Akintokunbo Oluwole, Oluwatoyin Omomehin, Mena Ajakpovi and Isitor Raymond.

To join our CITY LAWYER Channel on WhatsApp, click here

To join our Telegram platform, click here 

COPYRIGHT 2022 CITY LAWYER. Please send emails to citylawyermag@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at https://web.facebook.com/City-Lawyer-Magazine-434937936684320 and on “X” (TWITTER) at https://twitter.com/CityLawyerMag. To ADVERTISE in CITY LAWYER or for Special Features, please email citylawyermag@gmail.com or call 08138380083.

All materials available on this Website are protected by copyright, trade mark and other proprietary and intellectual property laws. You may not use any of our intellectual property rights without our express written consent or attribution to www.citylawyermag.com. However, you are permitted to print or save to your individual PC, tablet or storage extracts from this Website for your own personal non-commercial use.