One of the presidential candidates in the just-concluded Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) election, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe (SAN), has explained why he has yet to congratulate the declared winner, Badejo-Okusanya, successor to Mazi Afam Osigwe, insisting that the election was fundamentally flawed and lacked legitimacy.

Speaking on the outcome of the poll, Akangbe described the election as the “worst ever” conducted by the NBA, alleging that widespread technical failures disenfranchised thousands of eligible voters and undermined the credibility of the process.

According to him, his position was not directed at the winner personally but at what he described as a defective electoral system that requires urgent reforms.

He said, “We’re not talking about personalities. We’re talking about the system. She is my friend and remains my friend, but the process that produced the result was not credible.”

Akangbe recalled that concerns had been raised before the election over the choice of the electronic voting service provider, which he described as a sole proprietorship with no proven record of conducting elections of such magnitude.

He said he and other stakeholders proposed that internationally recognised firms be engaged to manage and independently audit the election, but the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) rejected the recommendation.

According to him, the election, originally scheduled to commence at midnight, did not begin until about 7:35 a.m. following technical glitches, while members experienced difficulties accessing the voting portal throughout the 24-hour exercise.

He alleged that many lawyers, including himself, the other presidential candidate and even the eventual winner, were unable to cast their votes because of problems ranging from multiple voting links to delays in receiving one-time passwords (OTPs).

Akangbe maintained that the low turnout recorded during the election was not the result of voter apathy but of widespread disenfranchisement.

He noted that although the NBA had over 82,000 eligible voters, only about 25,000 eventually voted.

“It was not a case of low turnout. People wanted to vote but couldn’t. Members stayed awake all night trying to vote without success,” he said.

The Senior Advocate argued that the number of lawyers allegedly prevented from voting was significant enough to have altered the election’s outcome.

He further contended that the winner secured about 12,000 votes, he polled over 7,000, and another contestant received more than 5,000, adding that the disenfranchised voters could have changed the final result.

Akangbe said that if he had emerged victorious under similar circumstances, he would have called for a fresh election to secure legitimacy.

“I would be calling for a rerun because I would want legitimacy over my presidency,” he said.

He also criticised the winner for allegedly failing to acknowledge shortcomings in the electoral process, expressing concern that such an approach could hinder efforts to reform the NBA’s election system.

According to him, accepting the outcome without admitting the flaws sends the wrong signal to members who were unable to exercise their voting rights.

Akangbe dismissed suggestions that external political forces influenced the election, insisting that the NBA’s problems were internal.

“I don’t think the Nigerian state is involved. Our problem starts within the Bar, and that’s what we need to fix,” he said.

He was also critical of NBA President Mazi Afam Osigwe, accusing him of ignoring proposals to improve the election’s credibility despite consultations with the Attorney-General of the Federation, in his capacity as Chairman of the General Council of the Bar, and the Chairman of the Body of Benchers.

According to Akangbe, proposals such as adopting the National Identification Number (NIN) for voter verification and postponing the election by one week to address technical concerns were not implemented.

However, he stressed that he bore no personal grudge against Badejo-Okusanya, revealing that he had attempted to call her after the election but she did not answer.

“I’ve given her the benefit of the doubt that she has been busy. Beyond that, I have no personal issues with her. She is my friend,” he said.

Akangbe insisted that his primary concern remains electoral reforms within the NBA, saying the association must rebuild confidence in its voting process to preserve its moral authority to advocate credible elections in the country.

Source: The Nation News