Arthur Obi-Okafor, SAN Replies Paul Usoro, SAN, Says He Can Only Extend Hand Of Friendship When Post-Election Audit Is Done

Arthur Obi-Okafor, SAN, who was one of the presidential candidates in the 2018 NBA general elections has reiterated that an independent and participatory forensic post-election audit of the international standard must be done before he will accept the offer from Paul Usoro, SAN, to work as a team. The learned Silk, made this statement on 25th, August 2018, while responding to the letter from Paul Usoro, SAN requesting a bond of friendship. In the letter which is made available to The Nigeria Lawyer (TNL), Arthur, SAN, stated that the past days have been quite busy for him and probably that’s the reason there has not been free flow of communication between both. Below his reply Dear Paul, I thank you for your letter and the kind and positive words that you said about me and also about our brother Ernest. The past days have been quite busy and probably resulted in restricting our access to each other. The NBA is very dear to all of us and understandably must transcend our individual interests. I totally agree with you that we must protect, further the interest, fundamental aims and objectives as well as the development of our Legal Profession through the NBA. More importantly, I also believe the way the leaders of the profession are elected is fundamental to the survival and dignity of the profession we admire and is the foundation of any meaningful achievement going forward. I am glad to note your recognition that all three of the Presidential candidates have a common bond in coming from the Eastern Region of the country. I entirely agree with you that whether or not any of us is President of NBA, we have this common obligation as members of the Eastern region and members of the Nigerian Bar Association in general, to bring about in the next two years an NBA that is credible, all inclusive, democratic, effective and effectual. My position on your offer for us to work together is that an independent and participatory forensic post-election audit of international standard must be carried out before the alleged result of the election is ratified. I have requested for a post-election audit to be conducted which I presume will take place before any results are ratified. I expect the audit to address the serious allegations and observations of irregularities in respect of the verification and election processes. The outcome of the audit will put me in a position to ascertain the way forward. Kind regards, Arthur Obi Okafor, SAN Below is the copy of his reply in PDF Format [pdf-embedder url=”https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/mail.pdf”]]]>