Two candidates in the recent Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election, Precious Akangbe and Akinboro, have separately challenged the outcome of the July 18 to 19 poll, alleging constitutional, procedural and technological breaches in the electoral process.
The NBA’s Electoral Committee had declared Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo Okunsanya, SAN, winner of the election after she polled 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the total votes cast.
While Akangbe petitioned the NBA National Officers Election Appeal Committee seeking to nullify the election, Akinboro, in a 41 page petition dated July 27, called for an independent forensic audit of the exercise, insisting the poll was fundamentally flawed.
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Akinboro’s petition was addressed to multiple institutions, including the Chairman of the Body of Benchers, the Attorney General of the Federation, the NBA President, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Department of State Services.
In the petition, Akinboro alleged that the issues went beyond the outcome of the poll to the credibility of the association’s democratic process, narrating events he said preceded the election.
The NBA has not yet issued a public response to either petition, with the disputes expected to test the association’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms in the coming weeks.
