Human Rights Activist, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu has questioned the integrity of the final list of voters released by the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) which contains a suspicious name.NigeriaLawyer reports
This is contained in a Tweet by Prof. Odinkalu sighted by the NigeriaLawyer.
According to the tweet, it questions whether the ECNBA list is not “another charade” for having a Lawyer in the Abuja Branch by name “Opening Balance” contained in number 5500 of ECNBA final list.
“According to the final list of voters released by NigerianBarAssociation’s ECNBA, there is a lawyer in Abuja called “Opening Balance”.”
“How credible is the VotersList for NBADecides2020?
“What are the ECNBA & the campaigns doing to ensure NBADecides2020 is not another charade”
According to the final list of voters released by @NigBarAssoc's #ECNBA, there is a lawyer in Abuja called "Opening Balance".
How credible is the #VotersList for #NBADecides2020?
What are the #ECNBA & the campaigns doing to ensure #NBADecides2020 is not another charade? pic.twitter.com/cAzdkH7rSx
— Chidi Odinkalu (@ChidiOdinkalu) July 3, 2020
After 2 #RiggedElections, @NigBarAssoc seems well on its way to a 3rd
The voters list produced by#ECNBA appears riddled wth some impressive non-persons
Voter No. 5500 is a person called "Opening Balance"?!
There's a way to stop this: verify the names with reference to receipts pic.twitter.com/PNKq8bPSFO
— Chidi Odinkalu (@ChidiOdinkalu) July 3, 2020
Meanwhile, in reaction to this, in the twitter handle of the Open Bar Initiative, it stated that it is consequent upon the letter written by Chief Awomolo SAN and a desire to rig the forthcoming elections.
“NBA 2020 Rigging Agenda!
The Awomolo letter taking shape.
How can a lawyer who is verified, without getting any default details, sign into a password he/she didn’t create? Membership portal is a scam to disenfranchise lawyers!”
“NBA Election Rigging:
The ultimate aim is to discredit Universal Suffrage / online voting and reintroduce the delegates system that Awomolo SAN has advocated to ensure that a majority of the members of NBA remain under control.” It added.
NBA 2020 Rigging Agenda!
The Awomolo letter taking shape.
How can a lawyer who is verified, without getting any default details, sign into a password he/she didn't create? Membership portal is a scam to disenfranchise lawyers!https://t.co/HeDmqApluH@ChidiOdinkalu
— Open Bar Initiative (@BarInitiative) July 3, 2020
NBA Election Rigging:
The ultimate aim is to discredit Universal Suffrage / online voting and reintroduce the delegates system that Awomolo SAN has advocated to ensure that a majority of the members of NBA remain under control.@ChidiOdinkalu
— Open Bar Initiative (@BarInitiative) July 3, 2020
However, in reaction to this, the Secretary of ECNBA, Cordelia U. Eke, Esq., has reacted to this stating that what determines eligibility to vote is verification. Therefore, once “Opening Balance” is unverifiable, it is ineligible to vote.
“The important thing about the list is that only those that are verified will be able to vote. Opening balance on the list cannot verify that means he cannot vote even though the name is on the list. That is why we said even though there are duplication, we are cleaning the list, to remove duplications such as that.
“It is only those that get verified, meaning that you must have your supreme Court Enrollment Number and your Call to The Bar Certificate. If you don’t have all that you cannot vote. For this election, emphasis is on VERIFICATION.” She said.
