The Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) has foreclosed any hopes that it would provide aggrieved candidates in the recent NBA Elections with an independent audit of the elections.

Instead, the electoral umpire has asked the candidates to approach the “NBA NEC” to press their demands for an independent audit. It was unclear whether the electoral umpire meant the NBA National Executive Council or the NBA National Executive Committee.

CITY LAWYER recalls that two presidential candidates, Mr. Chukwuka Ikwuazom SAN and Mr. Tobenna Erojikwe SAN had alleged irregularities during the election and called for an independent audit. They rejected the “Post-Election Audit” report recently released by the ECNBA. Mr. Afam Osigwe SAN was declared winner of the presidential election

Responding to a letter by NBA Lagos Branch requesting documents on the election, the electoral umpire stated that it is “self-defeating” to expect it to conduct an independent audit, being an active participant in the process.

In the reply obtained by CITY LAWYER and dated 12th August, 2024, the ECNBA stated that the branch did not provide suggestions on the form or choice of those “Independents” to conduct the said “independent audit”. 

The ECNBA stated that it had requested an “independent assessment and opinion” from the Technical Service Consultant to the elections and a review report from the Election Service Providers, adding that both entities “have both concluded their Post-Election Audit and published a report of same, now posted on our website at www.ecnba.org. You may wish to check it out and perhaps revisit your request for yet another audit, as the said reports clearly address elaborately with annexed analytical data, details that clarify whatever concerns may have provoked your Branch’s request.”

The electoral umpire stated that the request from the branch is among several requests for an independent audit which it had received, adding that “It would therefore be only desirable to synchronize any such audit effort rather than have a duplicated approach arising from the multiple
party requests your letter and those of others have occasioned on the subject.”

It stated that the request “may therefore be better channelled to the appropriate institution of the NBA to decide and lay out (if necessary) the choice of person(s) and procedure to adopt, rather than by requests from individuals, Branches or members demanding varying processes and procedures for the same audit effort.

“Furthermore, your request for an Independent audit by that notion, suggests the ECNBA should not be expected to constitute the team of ‘Independent persons’. Your letter to us may thus be self-defeating as the ECNBA cannot constitute an audit team meant to be Independent of the ECNBA, neither can yourselves as interested parties. You may therefore wish to redirect your request to the NBA NEC rather than to the ECNBA.”

The letter was signed by Mr. Oluseun Abimbola SAN and Ms. Hauwaila Muhammad, ECNBA’s Chairman and Secretary respectively.

It was unclear at the time of this report whether the branch plans to take any other steps to press the matter. 

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.