#NBADECIDES 2022: Candidates For National Offices Debate Their Manifestoes As Election Draws Closer
The Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association on Thursday, 8th of July hosted a manifesto presentation session by candidates aspiring for various offices in this month’s NBA General elections, as well as a debate session for the three Candidates vying for the Office of National President.
The six-hour event was anchored Ms. Shola of Channels TV at the NBA House, Plot 1101 Cadastral Zone, Central Business District, Abuja FCT and was transmitted through virtual platforms.
The event was attended by Senior Advocates, Senior members of the bar and other members of the NBA, with the ECNBA confirming that over 7000 active participants listened to the session physically and virtually.
The event kick-started by 10 am and started out with a session where various candidates going for the position of Representatives of the Governing Council of the Bar were called upon. The session for the presentation of Manifesto by aspirants for Representatives of Governing Council of the Bar was divided into zones and each candidate was allocated two minutes to sell themselves and state out the plans they seek to achieve if elected.
After the presentations by Candidates for Representatives of Governing Council of the Bar, Candidates seeking to occupy positions in the National Executive ranging from the Assistant Publicity Secretary, Treasurer, Welfare Secretary, Assistant General Secretary, Publicity Secretary were each given 2 minutes to sell themselves and spell out their plans to listeners and the general NBA community.
A number of candidates and online viewers however expressed dissatisfaction with the time allocated, complaining that the two minutes given by the committee for candidates to speak was not enough as most candidates were unable to sell themselves and agenda due to the paucity of time, and those who managed to pull it off, had to speak very fast.
At 12 noon, the session went to a 20 minutes recess, where the ECNBA organized a media center for candidates to talk audience on plans they had which they had been unable to cover in the debate session. Whilst the break was in session, the online chat room buzzed with audience throwing their supports behind their various candidates.
After the break, the die was cast on the Candidates for the position of General Secretary. The organizers gave the candidates 5 minutes each to roll out the plans they set out in their Manifesto. The Anchor also asked 3 significant questions that some lawyers had regarding the plans of the aspirants for the position of the NBA General Secretary. The questions related on providing an efficient Secretariat as well as access to stamps and seals by members, and each candidate was granted a minute to answer the questions.
Also, the Manifesto defense was taken for the position of 1st,2nd and 3rd Vice President, with each candidates having five (5) minutes to talk about what they intended to do if elected to the position.
Another major highlight of the event was the break taken just before the presidential debate, where the ECNBA Chairman, came up and explained the process through which the Technical Consultant of the NBA and The ICT service provider for the Election were chosen. He stated that all Constitutional guidelines had been followed, and all firms who submitted proposals were well scrutinized and successful Candidates were chosen on the basis of their experience, capabilities and innovative platforms. He stated that, it was this due process that produced Finess Technology Limited as the Technical Consultant of the NBA and Init in collaboration with Election Body as the ICT Service Provider (ISP) for the Election. The Chairman then invited the various heads of the Tech companies to come and explain the process of how the election was to be conducted and the necessary Pre-Election details members had to fine-tune in order to validate themselves to be able to vote come July 16th, 2022. As regards qualifications of voters, the ECNBA Chairman stated that a release was just sent at that time concerning those voters who had issues with their Email and phone number and stated that this problem would be addressed through the process to be explained by the Technical Support Consultant of the NBA. He went on to establish that the list of qualified voters had been provided by the NBA on the basis of persons who had paid their practicing fee on or before 31st March, 2022.
Talking about the election process and the platform to be used, Mr. Femi from Init gave a sample view of the election process. He state that the Election platform was expected to open on the 16th of July, by 12am prompt and close 11.59pm that same day. He went on to state the requirements of voting which was finding one’s name in the final list provided by ECNBA, and that there will be no app but only a web browser needed and a link would be sent to these qualified voters through their email and phone numbers. The link according to him was personalized and could not be shared with any body. He stated that members should pay attention to their Email including their spam folders. Mr. Femi went on to lists step by step process through which voters could participate in the process. After clicking the link, he stated that they would be exposed to the various categories of positions and aspirants for the various positions, through which they would make their selections or choose to abstain thanks for option introduced by Init, after final selections, voters will be taken to verification page to cross-check all the choices they had made, before final submission. After submission, Mr. Femi stated that a confirmation code would be sent to the email and contact of the voter which will be needed cases of auditing and third party verification of the election process. Mr. Akin of Finess Technology Limited on his part commended the NBA for the generated list and confirmed that there was still need for further validation as there were circumstances where just one email was used to make a group payment of practicing fees. He asked members to visit https://votersrecordissues.ecnba.ng and indicate their enrollment numbers where they will go on to validate their information or in the cases where such information was not available, make use of any means of identification to ensure they can validate their information. Mr. Akin stated that the deadline for this was 8th July 2022. He further clarified that all information were protected in line with data privacy regulations.
The climax of the event was the Presidential Debate where all Candidates were physically present and were constantly cheered by their supporters. Each Presidential Candidate was granted 10 minutes to address listeners on their plans for the Bar if elected. Each Candidate’s plans were met with loud cheers and support both physically and online. After each candidate had addressed the audience, the Anchor proceeded to ask questions that lawyers had sent regarding the plans of the candidates. The questions including prioritizing of plans amidst short tenure, relationship between the bar and the bench, regulations and discipline of lawyers, welfare of Young Lawyers, amongst others. Each Candidate answered, relying at one point on the other on their manifestoes and their answers were received with cheers from supporters.
All Candidates were present for the event, whether physically or virtually. The event was crowned with pictures featuring candidates and the ECNBA, Presidential Candidates and the ECNBA members and Presidential Candidates alone. This occurred amidst unrelenting cheers by the various supporters of the respective candidates.
