There is palpable anxiety within legal circles as the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Branch Elections Appeal Committee (North) has held that “Only physical meetings count towards electoral eligibility.”

The committee has accordingly upheld the disqualification of no less than four aspirants in forthcoming branch elections, holding that virtual meetings do not qualify in reckoning aspirants’ mandatory minimum attendance of five branch meetings.

Posing the question “whether virtual or online attendance at branch meetings could satisfy the constitutional attendance threshold required under the Uniform Bye-Laws,” the committee answered in the negative.

In a report obtained exclusively by CITY LAWYER, “The Committee held consistently that only the physical attendance register maintained by the Branch Secretary constitutes the valid and recognised record of attendance for electoral qualification purposes.

“Consequently, appeals by Rosemary Ogechi Ogazi, Chekwube Osita Ebubealor, Babatunde Moses Tijani, and Oluwaseyi Adedeji Arowosebe failed because their attendance arguments relied substantially on online participation.”

The Appeal Committee sat over appeals from aspirants relating to forthcoming branch elections in NBA Garki, Gwagwalada, Yola and Kano Branch

The committee stated that its decisions “focused heavily on electoral qualification, meeting attendance requirements, procedural competence of petitions, and the limits of the powers of ELCOM.”

Holding that qualification requirements under Sections 14 and 15 of the NBA Uniform Bye-Laws “are mandatory and incapable of waiver by ELCOM, the Branch, or any committee established by the Branch,” the Appeal Committee delivered a fatal blow on virtual meetings when it held that “Online attendance lists tendered before the Committee were rejected as unsigned, unauthenticated, and lacking verifiable membership details.”

Reaffirming what may be viewed in many circles as a major setback for the growing ascendancy of technology and virtual meetings in the legal industry, the committee held that “Overall, the decisions reaffirmed strict compliance with the Uniform Bye-Laws, the supremacy of the physical attendance register for election qualification purposes, and the limited jurisdiction of ELCOM in disciplinary or quasi-criminal allegations unrelated to the express constitutional requirements for contesting elections.”

Turning to the case of Chekwube Osita Ebubealor (NBA Garki Branch), the committee held that “Adopted branch minutes cannot override mandatory Bye-Law requirements,” again holding that “Only physical attendance register recognised under Bye-Laws. Appeal dismissed. Disqualification Upheld. Only physical Register in Branch Secretary’s custody are valid. Art. 14(3), 14(4) & 15.”

The committee adopted the same decision in the case of Babatunde Moses Tijani (NBA Garki Branch), while also holding in the case of Oluwaseyi Adedeji Arowosebe (NBA Garki Branch) that “Only physical meetings count towards electoral eligibility.”

The decisions are bound to send shock waves through the legal industry, as a huge number of lawyers rely on virtual meeting attendance to meet mandatory requirements set by the NBA Constitution (as amended) to vote and be voted for.

The decisions raise more eyebrows when it is recalled that branches have long reckoned with virtual meetings in validating members to vote in branch and national elections.

CITY LAWYER investigation shows that the NBA Constitution does not make any distinction between attendance of physical and virtual meetings. Article 14 of the NBA Uniform Bye-Laws for Branches provides that (2) “To be eligible to stand for election into an office, a member shall:

(a) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

(b) Have attended a minimum of five (5) monthly meetings of the Branch within the twelve (12) prior to the close of nominations for the election. For the purpose of determining attendance at meetings, the Attendance Register of the Branch shall be used in reckoning the number of attendance by members of the Branch.

(i) The Secretary of the Branch shall, within 48 hours after the meeting, send a copy of the Attendance Register of each meeting to the office of the Vice President under whose purview the Branch falls.”

A major concern is that these decisions seem to have a stamp of finality, moreso as CITY LAWYER gathered from unimpeachable sources that NBA President Afam Osigwe SAN told members at the recently concluded National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Awka that the hands of NBA leadership are tied in such matters as the NBA Constitution does not give the leadership any oversight role over appeal committees.

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