A major crisis has rocked the Gwagwalada Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), as 150 legal practitioners have officially petitioned the National Leadership and the Branch Election Appeal Committee.
The coalition is alleging deliberate, politically motivated manipulation of the voters’ list ahead of the upcoming branch elections.
The petition blows the whistle on a compromised electoral process where eligible branch members were allegedly systematically purged, while non-compliant individuals were illegally sneaked onto the qualified voters’ list based purely on political loyalty.
According to the statement released to newsmen and legal bloggers, the Luke Enelechi-led Electoral Committee pulled off a brazen act of disenfranchisement.
The committee allegedly disenfranchised 50 fully eligible, dues-paying voters, while simultaneously qualifying 11 completely ineligible individuals.
The petitioners cited a specific case of severe irregularity:
“The Electoral Committee qualified one Ehihiator Vivian Chinyere, an individual who has never attended a single NBA Gwagwalada Monthly General Meeting. Meanwhile, 50 genuine, active members who submitted airtight evidence of their payments and meeting attendance to the Committee were deliberately locked out.”
The statement strongly condemned the current Branch Chairman and Secretary for turning a blind eye to institutional rules, accusing them of vetting voter eligibility based solely on who members intend to vote for.
Furthermore, a heavy allegation of financial and administrative opacity was leveled against the Branch Secretary, John Adewakun.
He is accused of handing over an “arbitrary” list of dues-paying members to the Electoral Committee based entirely on his personal acknowledgment, while deliberately withholding the branch’s official bank statement of account for the period in question.
The Demands:
Electoral Committee and Executives Must ‘Step Aside’
Faced with what they describe as an active subversion of justice, the 150 aggrieved lawyers have formally petitioned NBA National President and the Branch Election Appeal Committee Northern Zone with a clear, uncompromising demand:
Immediate Recusal:
The current Branch Executive and their allies on the Luke Enelechi-led Electoral Committee must step aside immediately to prevent them from presiding over a compromised election.
A transparent review of the review of Electoral committee voters list in accordance with NBA Uniform Bye-law 2025 to restore 50 disenfranchised voters and remove the 11 illegal voters.
With a formal petition now resting on the desk of the NBA National President, national leadership is urged to step in, halt the alleged subversion of the rules, and restore the integrity of the Gwagwalada branch polls.
