Afam Osigwe, president of the Nigerian Bar Association
(NBA), has accused some lawyers and candidates in the association’s national
officers’ election of playing politics by alleging that the exercise would be
rigged before voting commenced.
Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, hours before the
election was scheduled to begin, Osigwe said those making the allegations were
attempting to delegitimise the electoral process without evidence.
“It is unfortunate that some lawyers and some candidates
have chosen to play fast and loose with the truth and allege rigging even when
the process has not commenced,” he said.
The NBA president said lawyers should refrain from making
allegations they cannot substantiate, adding that previous election petitions
alleging malpractice had been dismissed by the courts.
“It is not in the best practice of the legal profession for
any person to state facts which he knows not to be true,” he said.
”If courts have dismissed the matter, if you have alleged
rigging and you could not prove it, and the court dismisses it, then there was
no rigging in law.”
Osigwe added that the allegations were politically
motivated.
“We want free and fair election. The allegations against us
of rigging the election are mere politics. People are repeating a lie to
influence people’s minds,” the NBA president said.
He urged members to focus on issues affecting the legal
profession rather than what he described as false accusations capable of
damaging reputations.
“I don’t know about people, but I have never been part of a
plan, participated in, aided or condoned rigging. I have never planned it, and
I do not intend to,” he said.
Addressing allegations that he had a preferred presidential
candidate, Osigwe said the electoral committee operates independently and does
not take instructions from him.
Osigwe said although he has the right to cast his vote for
his preferred candidate, he has decided not to vote in the election to reassure
members of his neutrality.
“I have now said I will no longer vote. If that will give
them comfort,” he said.
“We are trying to build up an NBA that holds a credible
election… begging our members to stop delegitimising our process, to play clean
politics and focus on the issues,” he said.
DSS, EFCC, ICPC, FOREIGN EXPERTS TO MONITOR ELECTION
Osigwe said the NBA had thrown its electoral process open to
scrutiny by inviting security agencies and foreign technical experts to monitor
the election.
According to him, the Department of State Services (DSS),
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), as well as foreign
technical teams, were invited to examine and monitor the voting system.
“You know what we have done? We have invited DSS to come
with a technical crew… EFCC, ICPC. And we have invited foreign countries to
bring their technical team to query our system and to monitor it,” he said.
Osigwe said it was contradictory for critics to oppose
independent scrutiny after accusing the association of planning to manipulate
the election.
“You accuse people. They open up their systems. And you say
they should not look at it. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s all politics,” he added.
‘ARREST OF SERVICE PROVIDER TARGETED AT ELECTION’
The NBA president also disclosed that the managing director
of one of the association’s election service providers who DSS arrested has
been released.
Osigwe said the arrest raised concerns because a laptop
containing election-related data was seized.
“We believe that the arrest was targeted at our election,”
he said.
“There was data related to our election in that laptop. And
we are taking steps to ensure that if any person had access to that
information, that it would not in any way affect or compromise the integrity of
our electoral process.”
Responding to calls for National Identification Number (NIN)
verification during voting, Osigwe said the proposal could disenfranchise
lawyers, particularly women whose names on the NIMC database differ from those
on the supreme court roll after marriage.
“If we are to use that NIMC database, they will have a name
mismatch, and they will be unable to vote. And we cannot support any system or
process that will disenfranchise our members,” he said.
Osigwe added that the NBA had, nevertheless, agreed to
demands from some candidates to discontinue email-based one-time passwords
(OTPs), opting instead for SMS verification despite the additional financial
cost.
“We have made that concession… it’s going to cost us
millions of naira… But we are ready to make that sacrifice,” he said.
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