The Nigerian Bar Association Branch Elections Appeal Committee, East, has directed the Caretaker Committee of the NBA Port Harcourt Branch to review pending complaints over the branch’s voters’ list and ensure that only qualified members participate in the forthcoming branch election.
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The directive was contained in a unanimous consolidated decision dated July 4, 2026, and addressed to the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the NBA Port Harcourt Branch.
The decision, signed by the Secretary of the Appeal Committee, Amaka Ezeno, MCIArb, considered three pending petitions arising from the Port Harcourt Branch electoral process before the constitution of the Caretaker Committee by the NBA President.
The petitions included a complaint by Ledua Zor-Akekue, Esq., against the alleged inclusion of ineligible persons on the final voters’ list; a petition by C. S. Enyi, Esq., over the omission of his name and that of Omiete Maureen Otelemate, Esq., from the list of eligible voters; and a petition by Daminabo Davies, Esq., and Odinaka G. Emenike, Esq., calling for the dissolution of the Port Harcourt Branch Electoral Committee and challenging what they described as a compromised final eligibility list released on June 12, 2026.
In respect of the petition by Zor-Akekue, who alleged that over 225 persons who did not meet the eligibility requirements were included in the final voters’ list, the Appeal Committee held that it was merely copied in the petition and was being kept in the loop.
It consequently held that the complaint was within the jurisdiction of the Caretaker Committee to resolve in line with its mandate.
On the petition by Enyi, the Committee noted that he complained that his name and that of Otelemate were omitted from the final list of eligible voters despite allegedly being committed members of the Association, paying their dues and meeting the required attendance threshold.
The Committee observed that while the petitioner attached evidence of payment of branch dues and practising fees for 2025 and 2026, he did not attach the attendance register to prove compliance with the requirement under Section 14(2)(b) of the Uniform Bye-Laws for Branches.
The provision requires a member seeking elective office to have attended a minimum of five monthly meetings of the branch within 12 months preceding the close of nominations, with the branch attendance register serving as the basis for determining compliance.
The Committee held that, in the absence of an attendance register, it could not ascertain whether the claim was true.
It stated that it is a settled principle of law that he who asserts must prove.
The Committee therefore directed the Caretaker Committee to determine whether Enyi and Otelemate were qualified to have their names included in the final list of eligible voters and to take appropriate steps in accordance with its mandate.
On the petition filed by Davies and Emenike, the petitioners alleged exclusion of qualified voters, inclusion of ineligible persons or “ghost voters,” duplication and misplacement of names, absence of unique membership identity numbers, drastic disparity between the provisional and final voters’ lists, institutional bias and alleged compromise of the ELECO secretariat.
The Appeal Committee held that it was not provided with sufficient documents and evidence to make a finding on the alleged exclusion of qualified voters.
It also said there was no evidence before it to show that ineligible members of the NBA Port Harcourt Branch were deliberately qualified and added to the final list by the branch Electoral Committee.
The Committee further held that the allegation that the Secretary of the Electoral Committee was a member of a partisan group known as the Progressive Group was not sufficient ground to disband the Electoral Committee.
However, the Appeal Committee stated that after painstakingly reviewing the final list of eligible voters, it discovered actual duplication of names, including instances where some names appeared three times.
It said it could not make findings on some of the other allegations because sufficient materials were not placed before it.
Relying on Section 14(2)(o)(i) and (ii) of the NBA Constitution, 2015, as amended in 2025, the Appeal Committee directed the Caretaker Committee, now vested with the power to act as the Electoral Committee for the NBA Port Harcourt Branch, to determine the complaints raised by the petitioners.
It specifically directed the Caretaker Committee to ensure that qualified voters are not excluded from the final voters’ list, ineligible persons are not included, and names of eligible voters are not duplicated or misplaced.
The decision places responsibility on the Caretaker Committee to clean up the branch’s electoral process and address the complaints before the conduct of the Port Harcourt Branch election.
The petitioners were copied in the decision.
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