Arthur Okafor drags NBA to court, seeks post-election audit

Arthur Okafor, one of the presidential aspirants of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) election, is challenging the victory of Paul Usoro.

Usoro had polled 4,509 votes to defeat Okafor and Ernest Ojukwu who scored 4,423 and 3,313 votes respectively.

He was subsequently declared the winner by the electoral committee of the NBA (ECNBA).

Abubakar Mahmoud, incumbent president of the association, had described the election as the fairest held so far.

But in a notice addressed to the president of the association, Okafor through his lawyers informed the NBA about the pendency of the suit between him and the incorporated trustees of the NBA.

Okafor wants the Abuja high court to determine if it is right for ENCBA to announce the result of the election and issue a certificate of return to Usoro without verification of votes cast and without instituting an audit of the electoral process.

“It is right for the honorable court to direct that the outcome of the participatory, independent post election audit should validate or invalidate the aforesaid result declared by the ECNBA or the election itself?” the suit read in part.

Okafor wants the court to appoint either Price Waterhouse Coopers or Akintola Williams & Deloitte, two forensic audit firms, to conduct a verification of voters or audit the electoral process leading to the results announced.

The senior advocate is also seeking an order from the court directing the body of benchers to supervise and give effect to the outcome of the post-election audit.

“There are three stages of the electoral process for the 2018 National Officers Election of the Nigeria Bar Association which includes verification, accreditation/voting and post election audit or verification of votes,” the suit read.