The former General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mazi Afam Osigwe, has urged an Abuja court to stop election into the office of the NBA President.
The NBA is set to elect a new set of leaders to manage its affairs for the next two years.
But Osigwe, who aspires to be the association’s next president, is challenging what he called his unlawful disqualification from the race.
This year, the NBA Presidency was zoned to the South-East.
With the refusal of the association to rescind its decision on Osigwe’s disqualification, the NBA presidential race is now among the trio of Prof Ernest Ojukwu (SAN), Mr Paul Usoro (SAN) and Mr Arthur Obi-Okafor (SAN).
The election, which was initially slated for July 27 and 28, has been shifted to August 3 and 4, 2018.
Osigwe, while speaking with journalists in Lagos over the weekend, said he would have expected the election committee to respect the pendency of his suit and put the conduct of election into the NBA President office on hold.
He, however, said in case the election proceeded, he had urged the court to nullify its outcome.
He said, “I filed a motion for injunction to stop the election into the office of the NBA President. The substance of my suit relates to my unlawful disqualification and unlawful exclusion from the election. Why I sought to have the court restrain the conduct of election into the office of the NBA President is to enable me to participate.
“But also realising that the current leadership of the NBA has not has a record of respecting court orders, as we saw happen in the NBA Abuja branch, my counsel thought it was important to include a prayer seeking the nullification of the election result, should the NBA, despite the pendency of the suit, goes ahead to conduct the election.
“You would expect a respectful organisation facing this kind of situation, whether right or wrong, to hold on and await the outcome of the court case, and I am standing on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Peter Obi and INEC. If I were the NBA Election Committee, knowing that this issue has been presented before the court, I will, even in the absence of an injunction, not conduct election into the office of the President, knowing that the NBA will not grind to a halt.
“But like I said, this NBA leadership not having shown the propensity to obey court orders or respect the pendency of suits, we had to include a prayer that if they go ahead to conduct the election, it should be nullified.”
In this article:
The NBA is set to elect a new set of leaders to manage its affairs for the next two years.
But Osigwe, who aspires to be the association’s next president, is challenging what he called his unlawful disqualification from the race.
This year, the NBA Presidency was zoned to the South-East.
With the refusal of the association to rescind its decision on Osigwe’s disqualification, the NBA presidential race is now among the trio of Prof Ernest Ojukwu (SAN), Mr Paul Usoro (SAN) and Mr Arthur Obi-Okafor (SAN).
The election, which was initially slated for July 27 and 28, has been shifted to August 3 and 4, 2018.
Osigwe, while speaking with journalists in Lagos over the weekend, said he would have expected the election committee to respect the pendency of his suit and put the conduct of election into the NBA President office on hold.
He, however, said in case the election proceeded, he had urged the court to nullify its outcome.
He said, “I filed a motion for injunction to stop the election into the office of the NBA President. The substance of my suit relates to my unlawful disqualification and unlawful exclusion from the election. Why I sought to have the court restrain the conduct of election into the office of the NBA President is to enable me to participate.
“But also realising that the current leadership of the NBA has not has a record of respecting court orders, as we saw happen in the NBA Abuja branch, my counsel thought it was important to include a prayer seeking the nullification of the election result, should the NBA, despite the pendency of the suit, goes ahead to conduct the election.
“You would expect a respectful organisation facing this kind of situation, whether right or wrong, to hold on and await the outcome of the court case, and I am standing on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Peter Obi and INEC. If I were the NBA Election Committee, knowing that this issue has been presented before the court, I will, even in the absence of an injunction, not conduct election into the office of the President, knowing that the NBA will not grind to a halt.
“But like I said, this NBA leadership not having shown the propensity to obey court orders or respect the pendency of suits, we had to include a prayer that if they go ahead to conduct the election, it should be nullified.”
In this article: