Akinboro also noted that candidates were informed the election had been suspended, only to realise later that voting had continued.
By Kehinde Okeowo
Olumuyiwa Akinboro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and presidential candidate in the recently concluded Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) election, has condemned the exercise, describing it as the worst in the association’s history.
He stated this on Tuesday while appearing on an Arise Television programme.
TheNiche had earlier reported that Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya (SAN) emerged as the winner of the election, which concluded on 19 July.
According to the Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA), Chief Aham Ejelam (SAN), the female presidential candidate secured a total of 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the total votes cast in the NBA national election.
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Badejo-Okusanya defeated her closest challengers, Lateef Akangbe (SAN), who garnered 7,934 votes, and Akinboro, who polled 5,855 votes, to become the 33rd NBA president.
However, while assessing the exercise, Akinboro rejected the outcome, stating that it was marred by irregularities.
He added that the voting portal crashed just 30 minutes into the exercise, destabilising the candidates.
The NBA presidential candidate further stated that they were informed the election had been suspended, only to realise later that voting had continued.
Speaking during his interview, Akinboro said: “This is the worst of all the elections we have had in the NBA. Take, for example, the election was supposed to commence at midnight; within 30 minutes, the site crashed, and my name did not appear properly. My picture was not on the ballot.
“They suddenly shut it down and later told me that it was a cyber attack. A cyber attack will not change what has been inputted into the system—it can only shut down the system.
“From midnight, I went to sleep around 6:30 am, and what they said was that the election was suspended. A lot of people went to sleep. They woke me up again and said the election was on.”
