STOP USING COURTS, POLITICIANS TO UNDERMINE NBA ELECTIONS – AFAM OSIGWE
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Afam Osigwe, president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), says lawyers should desist from using the courts or politicians to undermine the association’s electoral process.
Speaking on Wednesday during an interview on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, ahead of the NBA’s national officers’ election, Osigwe said members of the legal profession should set the standard for democratic polls.
The NBA’s national officers’ election is scheduled for Monday, July 20, 2026
Osigwe said lawyers should conduct themselves in a manner that inspires public confidence, rather than delegitimising the process with allegations unsupported by evidence.
“We are men, members of a noble profession, and an election should be exemplary. Courts should not be used to truncate our democracy. Neither should politicians be used to truncate our democracy,” Osigwe said.
He lamented the growing trend of lawyers making allegations of electoral malpractice without substantiating their claims.
“Our voting process, electoral process, should be such that people would want to emulate. But unfortunately, we have many lawyers maligning the electoral committee even in the absence of any credible proof of any wrongdoing,” Osigwe said.
“You hear, and read a senior advocate, for example, writing that he is not going to vote because he knows the election will be rigged.
“For example, in my own election, one of the persons who contested against me claimed that before some of his supporters could vote, they discovered that somebody had voted, stolen the identity, and voted, and we challenged him to produce one single name, and none has been produced. So, people create a story to try to delegitimise the process.”
The NBA president said voters would receive a one-time password (OTP), similar to those used in the banking sector, to authenticate their votes.
“Now, there’s one number attached to every lawyer, and so when an OTP is sent, it is sent to that number attached to your profile and your email address,” he said.
“You’re to use that OTP to not differentiate from what is used in the banking industry, where an OTP is sent to you in a secure OTP.
“It expires after some time. And it can only be used once to improve the process because of those who allege, without proof, identity theft.”
He said the list of accredited voters would be made available to all candidates within six hours after the close of the poll in line with the amended constitution of the association.
“Our constitution was amended last year to stipulate that if I think less than six hours after the close of polls, the list of accredited voters who voted would be sent to all candidates so that they can also forensically study it to find out if there were persons who purportedly voted or purported to have voted but who didn’t actually vote,” he said.
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