NBA Verdict: Will The New Team Take Us To The Promised Land? By: Abdulrasheed Ibrahim

The recently concluded NBA election reminds me of a Presidential election conducted in USA many years where if my memory has not failed me Mr. Bush,the Senior having been defeated by Mr. Clinton, said the “American people have spoken”.

Although the NBA election is without controversy,but majority of those that ran in the election have displayed the spirit of sportsmanship by accepting the verdict. While Arthur Obi Okafor SAN said he withdrew from the election and called for post election audit of the exercise won by Paul Usoro, SAN,Ernest Ojukwu,SAN on his part asserted that:

“Though a winner has emerged from this present contest,remember we contested against corruption, massive vote buying, vote capture,rigging and a skewed process.

These reasons make a challenge of the result important but because of my long and selfless commitment to regenerating the Bar,and the need not create tension in our legal profession,I shall not contest it”

To me, if all these allegations are true and real,it means as far as credible electioneering in NBA is concerned, the “beautiful ones are not yet born”, apology to the Ghanian novelist ,Kwesi Ayi Amah .

Although there may not perfect democracy but things must not be done in such a way that some would not have the impression of being cheated in the scheme of things.

By the available record, out of the number of voters put at 16,115,only 12,484 voted while 3631 could not vote.In the said election the contestants stand as follows:

With this verdict,all the contestants have done very well.I congratulate them all. In NBA politics, if you don’t win today,you may win tomorrow .

If you don’t believe me , please ask people like Messr AB Mahmoud ,Martins Ogunleye, Dele Oloke and Bayo Akinlade just to mention few ,that how many time did they run?They had all one time or other gone the way of Abraham Lincoln and PMB.For those that lost out ,2020 or other election year is around the corner.

By this I am not discouraging those who may want to ventilate their grievance in the court of law,but the reality on the ground is that those lawyers that will defend your opponents may be very good at filing preliminary objections to buy time.

There is no doubt that the NBA as it stands today is seriously in need of surgical REVOLUTION.

With the trains of promises that went with the electioneering campaign, the question we should be asking Paul Usoro,SAN and his new team now is: Will they take us to the promised land?