The Rivers State chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, has postponed its planned election exercise till further notice following due to an ongoing crisis rocking the legal institution.
The union boycotted the election exercise following a disgruntlement expressed by some candidates over the election process with armed security operatives from the Nigerian Police Force and the Department of State and Services, DSS, deployed to the scene, leading to the postponement.
A candidate contesting for the position of the Social Secretary, Chilezie Oluolu, stated that the Electoral Commission failed to comply with the branch’s bye-laws by not publishing the voter’s register ahead of the election.
“To everyone’s surprise, yesterday night, around 10:45 p.m. to 11 p.m., they published the final voters’ list,” Oluolu said on Friday.
“Meanwhile, we have never had any conversation as to the modalities for the election, and the bye-laws say that if you’re publishing a final voters’ list, you must give 14 days before the election, within which you would have spoken to members, explained the modalities, and allowed them to bring their agents for the final briefing before we get ready for the election.
“Yet they published it and said the election must hold this morning. The publication announcing the election came out last night, as well as the final voters’ list.
“And we are saying that is not how it should be. We are not satisfied. As the crisis escalated, some of the candidates staged a walkout in protest.”
As the protest continued, some officials attempted to calm frayed nerves, but the poll was postponed indefinitely to prevent a possible breach of the peace.
Meanwhile, the Electoral Committee has yet to announce a new date for the election.
When contacted, a former Chairman of the NBA, Port Harcourt Branch, Prince Nyekwere, confirmed the postponement, saying, “They have not given us a new date yet.”