NBA adopts e-voting
The 17-year-old Electoral Guidelines of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has been jettisoned for a more robust rules which allows all Nigerian lawyers who have paid their annual Practising Fee to vote.
The new rules takes effect from next year’s (2016) general elections.
The association, at a wellattended meeting of all 110 branches chaired by its President Augustine Alegeh (SAN), also endorsed e-voting system.
According to Gbolahan Gbadamosi, the national publicity secretary, the constitutional requirement to amend the document was met.
NBA requires two-third of voters to carry out the amendment.
Gbadamosi added: “590 were accredited to vote. 462 said YES. 123 objected, while five votes were voided. Two-third is 393.”
The old constitution which started in 1998 after the PortHarcourt debacle produced the following presidents: Chief Thompson Onomigbo(SAN) 1998- 2000; Chief O.C.J Okocha (SAN) 2000-2002; Chief Wole Olanipekun(SAN) 2002-2004; Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN); Prince Lanke
Odogiyon 2004 -2006; Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) 2006- 2008; Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) 2008- 2010; JB Daudu (SAN) 2010-2012; Okey Wali, 20122014 and the current President, Alegeh.
Rising from the AGC, the NBA called on the federal government to unravel the mystery surrounding the abduction, disappearance and location of the Chibok girls, return them to their parents and prevent future recurrence.
The NBA also recommended that the government should stamp out terrorism, tackle illiteracy and unemployment.
Alegeh said this in a communique at the just ended 55th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) with the theme: “Lawyers and National Development,” held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, from August 21 to 28, 2015.
The Annual General Conference of the NBA is a platform for lawyers, judges, academics, and other stakeholders in the legal profession to learn, exchange ideas, retool, reflect upon and proffer solutions to the ceaseless challenges confronting the Legal Profession, administration of justice, rule of law and due process, constitutionalism and democracy in Nigeria and beyond.
The 55th conference was declared open by President Muhammadu Buhari on August 22, 2015.
In attendance were the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, Supreme Court justices, Court of Appeal JUSTICEs, chief judges and judges, state governors, senators, federal and state parliamentarians, clergy, traditional rulers, senior advocates of nigeria, lawyers and members of the public.
The Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya, Dr. Willy Mutunga delivered a keynote address on “transforming judiciaries in Africa.
Government, according to the NBA, should, as a matter of national development, initiate prompt, independent, impartial investigation into the gross human rights violations allegedly committed by the military and the terrorists to safeguard against such violations in future.
The NBA also tasked the government to compensate victims of human rights violations and their families.
The NBA also called for the abolition of fixed charge paid by electricity consumers in the country on the ground that it is unjustifiable and illegal, adding that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (NERC’s) policy on maintenance fees charged on meters amounts to oppressive, multiple taxation and it should be discontinued.
The association called for the abolition of oil subsidy policy in view of the corruption in the process and suggested transparent harnessing and deployment of the nation’s resources.
NBA, which justifies the law prohibiting same-sex marriage, said the law on prohibition of the practice “does not amount to a violation of any individual’s fundamental human rights.”
On the position of the law on the role of first ladies, the association noted that wives of the president and governors could contribute to national development, adding: “There is no constitutional recognition of that office, the first lady is to complement the duties of the president and not embark on any parallel programme already captured within various ministries.