The Chairman, Section of Public Interest and Development (SPIDEL) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Monday Ubani, has urged the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to take disciplinary action against the embattled Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State, who is also a lawyer.
“I didn’t see the kind of brazenness ever exhibited by any public officer, and I know that the Nigerian Bar Association would take this matter up with the issue of discipline on that lawyer. He didn’t behave very well at all and he never represented Nigeria very well,” Ubani said on Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily on Wednesday.
The REC had stirred controversy when he declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Aishat ‘Binani’ Dahiru as the winner even as collation of results was not yet concluded.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) subsequently suspended the collation of results in the state following the REC’s action, but on Wednesday declared Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the election.
Ubani noted that the decision of INEC was equitable and in line with the Electoral Act 2022.
He said, “What saved the day was INEC’s quick intervention. As pointed out, the INEC office in Abuja did the right thing by suspending collation and inviting all the necessary officers to come to Abuja to look at what has happened.”
“There is a due process that the Act has provided and he (Adamawa REC) must comply with all that and there is nothing anyone can do about it. You have done the wrong thing and I am very happy that INEC has done the right because of the outcry.”
He said INEC’s stance against exoneration of wrong was a reflection of the outcry of the people.
“There are issues, it is impunity that has actually grown up in this country where people are not punished for offences and I am very happy that the institution has corrected itself instantly over this particular thing because of the outcry.
“It has happened when the PDP was there, they were doing everything and getting away with it and asking you to go to court.”
The SPIDEL Chairman also implored INEC to effectuate proper scrutiny in the flawed declaration process adding that the perpetrators should be brought into question.
“There is nothing wrong in carrying out what we call a comprehensive audit, comprehensive investigation of what transpired in Adamawa and to know those behind what has happened,” he said.
“There is nothing wrong in going into a proper investigation of what transpired. Who was behind what? Who authorised him to announce results without any basis?
“Who are these security agents that were with him? Who authorised them to be with him? Why will he brazenly do what he did and think he can get away with it?”
According to the lawyer, these disciplinary actions would rebuild the confidence of the nation in the system.
