An Eye-Witness Account Of How Abimbola Kayode Faction Frustrated The NBA Abuja Unified Election

By Henry Okolo

The final attempt in a series of efforts initiated by Mazi Afam Osigwe and Desmond Yamah to bring lasting peace to the Branch was to constitute a 5-man Committee made up of 2 Representatives from each side and one Neutral who would act as Chairman.

Folarin Aluko nominated Mazi Afam Osigwe and Silas Joseph Onu while Abimbola Kayode nominated Ibrahim Mark and Abdul Ibrahim SAN.

In this captivating account, Mr. Silas Onu recounts his experience on the committee and how the Abimbola Kayode faction undermined the entire process:

The Representatives of the Abimbola Kayode faction did everything they could to undermine the peace process from the very moment it started. They walked out of meetings, threw tantrums and even issued defamatory messages about our Team on social media. They adopted a hard stance and refused to shift ground on their positions even after several hours of negotiation late into the night.

We had made all sorts of offers to them which they refused. Some of the offers are:

For us:
1. Secretary
2. Treasurer
3. Social Secretary
4. Publicity Secretary
5. Welfare Secretary
6. NEC Rep

For them:
1.Chairman
2. Vice Chairman
3. Publicity Secretary
4. Welfare Secretary
5. Publicity Secretary
6. Legal Adviser.

They refused and insisted on only giving us:

1. WELFARE SECRETARY
2. PROVOST
3. ASSISTANT SECRETARY
3. FINANCIAL SECRETARY

Their rationale was that 2 of these Positions were uncontested and so we would be submitting to their electoral process. This proposition was put together as an insult to our intelligence and meant to aggravate us which we rightly refused.

We further offered them all the others offices except The Chairman and Vice-Chairman. Still they refused.

When that didn’t work, they claimed that we don’t have Attendance Registers. Ibrahim Mark called us liars and pulled out of the process. When we brought our Register of meetings, they shifted the goal post again and insisted that the clearance letter of the Electoral Committees and not the Registers should not be used to screen candidates form the basis for determining those who are qualified.
At this point I objected and stated that according to the Bye-Laws which they claimed they wanted to comply with, the register must be used to cross check the names of candidates, their nominators and be sure that they met the Constitutional threshold for participating in the election.

I went further to state that Ibrahim Mark had made a big issue of this register and it must be used properly. Immediately I made this intervention, Ibrahim Mark jumped up furiosly calling me names, charging violently towards me. He was barely restrained by the duo Abdul Ibrahim, SAN and YC Maikyau, SAN. He claimed I insulted him by stating that he published a misleading report wherein he called me a liar. He was provoked and was about to teach me a lesson.

I stood my ground, ready to defend myself. Seeing he couldn’t assault me, Ibrahim Mark threatened to “send my mates to me”, a statement which was made and understood as a threat of sending his boys to attack me. I will make a proper complaint to the Police on this issue.

In all of this, one must ask: “why will someone make an issue of Attendance Register and then when it is provided, suddenly make a u-turn on the importance of same?”
They caused the impasse because they never had any genuine interest in resolving this impasse.

At a point, the Chairman of the mediation panel, YC Maikyau SAN physically went on his knees to plead with the duo of Abdul Ibrahim SAN and Ibrahim Mark to make concessions, yet nothing came from them.

The final meeting was scheduled for 6 pm on 10th June, 2020 but they didn’t show up and giving an excuse that Folarin had published a notice of Election, they failed to mention that they had issued a Notice earlier. We had seen their own notice of election but still went for the meeting. For the record, Folarin’s notice of Election was released at about 10 pm more than 4 hours after they had issued their own notice.

Anyways, even in their absence we still made further concessions by accepting to take only two offices and conceding the remainder to them – Secretary and Treasurer. YC Maikyau SAN communicated this offer to them and still they refused.
At this point, there was no other recourse but to proceed to the polls which produced Mr. Bulus Atsen as Chairman.