Lagos lawyer and human
rights activist, Mr Femi Falana (SAN) has called on the Chairman of the Nigeria
Bar Association (NBA) Electoral Committee, Okey Amechi (SAN), to publish the
voters’ register compiled for this year’s election.
The election is
scheduled to hold tomorrow in Abuja.
Falana said he had very
strong reasons to suspect that the register may contain fictitious names,
including the names of dead lawyers, as was the case during the 2012 election
of the Bar.
Falana warned that if
the oters’ register was not published before the day of the election, he would
not hesitate “to approach the appropriate High Court to stop the manipulation
of the electoral process by the NBA leadership”.
He added: “Lawyers
cannot afford to fix election results as they are entrusted with the responsibility
of filing and defending election petitions in the country”.
Falana, who was once
president of the West African Bar Association, stated that to ensure
transparency in this year’s NBA poll, he was compelled, last week, to apply for
a copy of the voters’ register under the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.
He said he was assured
that the register would be published ahead of the election “but for some
inexplicable reasons, the NBA Electoral Committee has refused to publish the
voters register 48 hours to the election”.
The lawyer alleged that
“with the connivance of the leadership of the NBA, those lawyers were allowed
to vote from the grave! Even though the credibility of the election was called
to question, those who were genuinely dissatisfied with the fraudulent results
were advised to allow sleeping dogs to lie”.
Falana said: “I have
drawn the attention of the Secretary of the NBA Electoral Committee to the
evidence at my disposal that the voters’ register compiled for the election
contains the names of many lawyers who are not qualified to vote. For instance,
some concerned members of the NBA have reliably informed me that the list of
the 47 delegates representing the Abuja branch of the NBA was compiled in utter
breach of the Constitution of the NBA.
“I have equally
confirmed that the list of co-opted members of the National Executive Committee
of the NBA contains 135 names, contrary to the clear provisions of the NBA
Constitution.
“In a similar situation
in August 1992, I had cause to obtain a court order to stop the NBA election
when I discovered that the then military junta had concluded plans to hijack
the electoral process with a view to installing and imposing its stooges as
leaders of the Bar.
“It is hoped that
history will not be allowed to repeat
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