Verification Hiccups: Appeals For Understanding And Cooperation As He Assures Members Of Extension Of The Exercise—NBA Welfare Secretary Ade Adegbite (AA)

National Welfare Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ade Adegbite (AA) has reacted to the various complaints made by NBA branch chairmen, concerning the verification exercise of members for the forthcoming NBA National Election. In his reaction contained in a statement which was made available to TheNigerialawyer (TNL), he stated that there is one thing certain, and that is, election will not be conducted where majority are disenfranchised, adding that, if by the deadline many are yet to be verified, then of necessity, the deadline will be extended. ”If by the deadline for verification, the number of those that are yet to verify is too significant, we will rather take the painful but right decision of further extending the deadline than go ahead with election where majority of members are shut out,” he said. He further stated that though the present situation is unfortunate, what is most important at this time is ameliorating the bad situation. He also stressed that while they admit that there have been hitches in the exercise, the branches are also contributors to the quagmire. He also gave some reasons for his assertion. ”I must however for the purpose of disabusing our minds, state that most of the problems were created by the branches. ”About five branches submitted the names of their members using same phone number and email address for all the members; some branches submitted incomplete information for some of their members. ”Most branches submitted incorrect information for a number of their members while some branches did not even submit the names and information of some of their members at all,” he said. Speaking further, he said that he was a victim of category four. According to him, the immediate past administration in his branch did not forward his name to the National Secretariat despite being a National Officer with undoubtful eligibility to vote. He also said that Chams used a model that allowed for members to correct their own information by themselves and this made verification so easy and seamless. He also added that the process was compromised and manipulated by members, hence, the model adopted by Crenet which makes it impossible for members to correct their own information directly on the server. He therefore appealed to bar men to exercise patience as many of the issues are currently attended to, stressing that the process is ever credible. ”There are thousands of tickets still being treated as at this moment. Our members should please be reassured of the credibility of this present process. ”We may have challenges, but all issues will be attended to. My plea is that we should please show understanding and cooperate with the ECNBA in ensuring that credibility of this election is assured and sustained. ”If you dissect the above effectively, you will realise that we do not intend to disenfranchise anyone. A statement on the election time table will be out shortly. Verification is not ending at 10am this morning. That is much I can confirm,” he said.]]>