FRESH: 2020 NBA Elections Was Manipulated, Rigged For Akpata -Adesina

A candidate in the 2020 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election, Mr Dele Adesina SAN, Monday shed light on his claim that the electoral process was manipulated.

Adesina renewed a call he made last week for the cancellation of the poll, in a letter to the NBA’s Board of Trustees Chairman, Dr Olisa Agbakoba.

The former NBA Secretary-General and his brother Silk Dr Babatunde Ajibade last Thursday lost the race for the NBA Presidency to a non-SAN, Mr Olumide Akpata.

Akpata will succeed outgoing NBA President Paul Usoro SAN later this month.

But in his petition seen by The Nation, Adesina alleged that the election was marred by over-voting, disenfranchisement of some eligible voters, and non-compliance with the provisions of the NBA constitution.

According to him, the voters register verified by the Electoral Committee of NBA (ECNBA) was found to be “manipulated, doctored and padded”.

Adesina said the register contained “4,464 names of purported Lawyers without Branches ascribed to any of them from Serial Number 25171 to 29635. This List obviously provided cover for harvested voters without Branches;

“86 names of Lawyers (were) under the category ‘International Diaspora’ from Serial Number 12182 to 12268, a clear violation of the provisions of the Constitution of the NBA. International Diaspora as a Branch is unknown to the NBA Constitution.”

He alleged that there were cases of inflation of the list of some branches, including “For instance, Obollo-Afor Branch had only 39 names from Serial Number 30424 to 30462 on the final list for verification. Strangely, this increased to 662 on the Verified Voters List published on the date of the Election.”

According to him, there was also deletion/removal of names of many members from the final list. “For example: Ikeja, Ibadan, Enugu, Ife, Ado-Ekiti and many others had their number of voters substantially reduced without any explanation whatsoever or howsoever,” Adesina said.

In another instance, he alleged that the voting site had predetermined election data

He added: “A close examination of the recorded result at different timelines shows percentage movement of the Presidential Candidates as 54%, 23% and 21% with little or no variation.

“The system was obviously programmed to distribute votes at either +1 or 1 throughout the 24-hour period.

“Besides, about forty percent of voters could not vote as they were not sent with the links to do so. Again, ECNBA admitted this fact by stating that notices were delivered in batches what ought to be delivered at once to all prospective voters.

“Out of about 29,000 prospective voters, about 14,000 were not able to vote by the reasons stated above. As if that is not enough, instead of the recorded system stating that Mr. Olumide Akpata leads by 54% barely from about 20 minutes after voting started, the system stated that Olumide Akpata is winning by 54% in order to hoodwink and bias the mind of the voters in an election that is supposed to be free and fair.”

He urged BOT members to “intervene and right these wrongs and save the NBA from condemnation and destruction. I believe that leaders must do things right and/or ensure that things are done right. It is needless to say, Mr. Chairman and other members of the Board of Trustees of the NBA, that if the process is wrong, the product cannot be right. If the election process is wrongful and unconstitutional, the outcome must suffer the same fate and be cancelled.”

End.