NBA ELECTIONS 2022: WHY 10,000 LAWYERS MAY NOT VOTE

No less than 9,051 lawyers may be barred from voting when the ballot opens next Saturday for the 2022 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Elections.

CITY LAWYER investigation shows that these are the number of lawyers who are yet to verify their personal details in order to be included in the final voters register soon to be published by the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA).

In fact, the Electoral Committee warned yesterday that unless the lawyers take the last window of opportunity to verify their data, they would not be able to vote during the election.

An Information Release made available to CITY LAWYER by the committee states that “FOR THE RECORD, THIS IS THE FINAL EFFORT BY ECNBA TO ENABLE THIS SUBSET OF QUALIFIED VOTERS PARTICIPATE IN THE FORTHCOMING ELECTIONS.”

Titled “FINAL EFFORT TO ENSURE DATA ACCURACY OF SOME QUALIFIED VOTERS” and signed by Mr. Ayodele Akintunde SAN and Mabel Ekeke, ECNBA Chairman and Secretary respectively, the statement noted that “This information release is made further to the several publications, subsequent resolutions of complaints and the outcome of the TEST messages sent by the ECNBA’s ICT Service Provider on Saturday, 25 June 2022 to qualified voters.

“The ECNBA’s TSC has identified a subset of the data within the qualified Voters list that require further validation or correction of their emails and phone numbers to enable them to receive their ballots in the forthcoming elections holding on Saturday, 16 July 2022. The ECNBA therefore requires all qualified Voters on the list accompanying this Information release to follow the under listed steps for a further and final validation:

a. Visit the validation portal at https://votersrecordissue.ecnba.ng

b. Type your enrolment number in the box provided, click “Validate” and your name will be displayed to you along with your email and Phone number intentionally masked to comply with data protection law.

c. If you recognize the records to be yours, click “Validate” button beside the email and phone number one after the other, an OTP message will be sent to you, which you are required to enter to validate the record and a green tick box will be displayed next to each record, thereafter, click Close to complete the process.

d. However, if the record displayed is not accessible to you or unknown, click the edit button to supply and validate your email, Phone number, Branch, Year of Call as well as uploading a visible photo or scanned copy of any ONE of the following government issued forms of identifications, (i) Nigerian Driver’s License, (ii) International Passport Data page (iii) Voters Card, (iv) National ID Card, the supplied information will be reviewed and if acceptable will be updated otherwise rejected. e. Please note that voters records that do not require further validation are not available on this validation portal.

f. This portal will open from now till 11.59pm on Friday 8th July 2022 strictly for this purpose.

2. Qualified Voters that experience issues receiving OTP through their email should check their SPAM / Junk Folders and on their phones may have to temporarily disable Do not Disturb (DND) following these steps: a. 9mobile (Etisalat) numbers, Text START to 2442. b. MTN numbers, Text ALLOW to 2442. c. Glo numbers, Text CANCEL to 2442. d. Airtel numbers, Text ALLOW to 2442

3. FOR THE RECORD, THIS IS THE FINAL EFFORT BY ECNBA TO ENABLE THIS SUBSET OF QUALIFIED VOTERS PARTICIPATE IN THE FORTHCOMING ELECTIONS.”

The NBA Election is scheduled to hold on Saturday, July 16, 2022 to elect National Officers and NBA Representatives in the General Council of the Bar.

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ECNBA SETS MONDAY DEADLINE FOR ICT VENDOR PROPOSALS

The Electoral Committee of the Nigeria Bar Association (ECNBA) is requesting proposals to appoint an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Services Provider for the forthcoming NBA Elections slated for July 16, 2022.

In a release published today but dated May 20, 2022, the electoral umpire noted that the ICT Service vendor “will provide
the platform and services related to the conduct of electronic voting and post-election activities as required by the ECNBA.”

According to the statement signed by Mr. Ayodele Akintunde SAN and Ms. Mabel Ekeke, ECNBA’s Chairman and Secretary respectively, “The EMS Provider shall be responsible for providing the enterprise grade, robust and modern election management system to be deployed for the conduct of the NBA 2022 general elections as well as the pre-election and post-elections activities required for a successful free and fair online election.”

It indicated that “The ECNBA will shortlist and publish successful respondents on the ECNBA/NBA website or any other major platform to afford members of the Association the opportunity to object or file any compliant (sic) against the engagement of any the respondents. The decision of the ECNBA in respect of the choice of the respondent shall be final.”

While the electoral committee stated that the proposals must be submitted on or before 5 pm on Monday, 30 May, 2022 and must remain valid for 90 days, it indicated that the contract would be awarded by June 13, 2022.

To view the full ECNBA statement, please click on the link below.

ECNBA_ICT

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PETITION: ‘WE’LL DECIDE MAIKYAU’S FATE AFTER HIS REPLY,’ SAYS ECNBA

The Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) has vowed that it will determine the petition by embattled Bar aspirant, Mr. Kayode Bello against Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential aspirant, Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau SAN on merit.

In a response to Bello titled “Re: Petition Against Y.C. Maikyau as NBA Aspirant,” the electoral committee acknowledged receipt of the original petition and addendum and assured the petitioner that justice would be done.

In the email dated May 8, 2022 and sent via the electoral committee’s verified email address at info@ecnba.ng, the ECNBA also hinted that it would obtain a written response from Maikyau before delivering its decision on the matter.

Signed by its Secretary, Mabel Ekeke, the ECNBA wrote: “Your petitions are duly noted. The ECNBA will consider and determine its merit(s) after reviewing the written submission from the aspirants(sic) in response to the said petitions.”

It is recalled that Bello had through the petition urged the electoral committee to bar Maikyau from taking part in the NBA presidential poll. His words: “It is hereby prayed that Mr. Y.C. Maikyau, an aspirant for the NBA election, 2022, be screened properly based on the foregoing and his candidacy be suspended based on the doctrine of necessity to ensure sanctity and sanity of the noble legal profession. And that the ECNBA should do that which is appropriate and or necessary to sustain and maintain the nobleness of the legal profession.”
Maikyau, a frontline presidential aspirant, declined comment on the matter when CITY LAWYER contacted him, saying that the petition was not addressed to him. “Why should I respond?” he asked. He however expressed readiness to respond to the petition if asked to do so by the electoral umpire.

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