Joe-Kyari Gadzama, who was a presidential candidate in last weekend’s Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) general election, has called for the cancellation of the polls.
He claimed his stance after reviewing “the situation and circumstances before and during the elections”.
Gadzama’s campaign group in a statement released on Wednesday said the election wasn’t credible because it lacked transparency.
The statement comes even after the election was conducted via an electronic system.
Gadzama was runner-up to the winner, Abubakar Mahmoud, who had 3,055 votes to the former’s 2,384 votes.
SEE: Abubakar Mahmoud Elected as new NBA President
The statement issued by the campaign group Director-General, Garba Gajam, and its Secretary, Steven Abar, said:
“We hereby reject the results of the elections and call for the immediate cancellation of the same for failing to be credible, transparent, free and fair, and for failing to comply with the provisions of the NBA Constitution and the Electoral Guidelines,”
“We also call for the conduct of fresh Electronic (and not Internet) Elections that will be credible, transparent, free and fair and in compliance with the provisions of the NBA Constitution and the Electoral Guidelines.”
It also in its statement accused the outgoing president, Augustine Alegeh, of colluding with the Electoral Committee of the NBA on election day to ensure Mr. Mahmoud’s victory.
2 days prior to the election, Gadzama’s campaign team had accused Alegeh of a “brazen show of preference for and serious capital and human resources investment” into promoting Mahmoud.
Alegeh while reacting to the accusations called the election the best in the history of the NBA, and also said that it was normal for a loser in every election to feel aggrieved.
“We are happy that most of our members are very happy with the conduct of the election,” he said.
“The Electoral Committee of the NBA conducted an election that was adjudged by most of our members to be transparent, free, fair, and by all means the best election ever conducted in the history of the NBA.
“It is not unexpected that Gadzama having lost the election will be bitter. But at the Bar, we are one family, we expect everybody after the election to sheathe their swords and work for the greater interest of the bar.
“When Gadzama also lost the election in 2010, he made similar allegation, that the election was moved to Ibadan just to deprive him of the chance of winning.”
