No compilation of authentic compendium of African Folklore, will be complete without mentioning of the tortoise. I guess it is this wisdom that informed those who tagged me, shared with me, the article written by Prof. Chidi Odinkalu; Five takeaways from #NBADecides2022.
How do I respond; without being self-serving? Or make it not sound like a personal vendetta over my disqualification by the Electoral Committee of NBA (ECNBA) of which Prof. Chidi Odinkalu was the de factochairman and intimidated other members of the committee based on his famed human rights activist credential? I guess the Committee didn’t want to offend him hence they cowed once Chidi takes a position on any issue. Let me try.
Universal suffrage of the NBA is here to stay. Kudo to Augustine AlegehSAN and Mazi Afam Osigwe SAN’s led administration 2014 – 2016 for this. The decision was taken because chairmen & secretaries of the local branches, become gods, undemocratically chose who will be delegates to elect NBA officers. Once these delegates were chosen, the chairmen hidthem from candidates and negotiated how much before he commits his delegates to a candidate, they traded worse than PDP and APC.
Augustine Alegeh SAN, being a victim of this, revolutionized the voting process in NBA. But lawyers like Eleke the bird, that said since hunters have learnt to shoot without missing, she too has learnt to fly without perching, found a way to harvest, get their own stomach infrastructure from the contestants. Almost all Branches, fix Law Week in June in an election year and send letters to candidates to support or send in goodwill messages to be published in their law week magazine. As an aspirant, I received such and after consultation with a past NBA President, I refused to entertain such request. I only gave money to my branch, NBA Bwariand insisted that my image must not appear or any campaign material, the advert was that of Kubwaexpress.
COST OF 2022 NBA ELECTION
Prof. Chidi relying on rumor, puts it at about N2 Billion but smartly failed to tell us how he got this “rumored” cost. And without his committee did to stop it.
During one of the zoom meetings organized by ECNBA, Jonathan TaidiGunu, Esq a presidential candidate, raised the issue of hangouts and cost of NBA election. Prof. Chidi Odinkalu whose stock in trade was to threaten disqualification, glossed over it.
When I was an aspirant, I raised this issue too, but Habib Lawal, now Publicity Secretary-elect justified hangouts in a tweet, which got to Chidi’s attention; that hangout is necessary to show that a candidate is easily accessible. Why is Prof. Chidi now crying, when his committee would’ve made a statement on hangouts organized by friends of candidates? I did call for a forensic audit of accounts of the organizers of these hangouts and see if it would not be traced back to the candidates ortheir law firm.
Prof. Chidi, a prolific tweeter user did not tweet to condemn this but less than two weeks after conducting election, he is alive, casting shadows on the election he participated in its conduct.
Cost of NBA electioneering process, will remain expensive, until and useless, we reform the leadership selection process of officers within the NBA at all levels. How? I leave it to YC Maikyau, SAN and his incoming executive, to write their names in gold like Alegeh and think outside the box.
PROF CHIDI ODINKALU AND HIS SELF SERVING CROCODILE TEARS.
As de fecto chairman of the ENCBA, what Prof. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu would have done, is submit a report to NBA, rather than rushing to the press. This is premature, infantile, attention seeking, particularly when there is unresolved petition against the election. Chief JK Gadzama SAN petition, has not ran its full 18 holes and Prof. Chidi is everywhere painting himself with rose tinted fart.
PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF
Prof. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu failed, omitted and refused to tell his readers or is it his NGO foreign donors, the cost of conducting #NBADecides2022. Rather he was quick to attempt to paint himself a saint in the congregation of sinners (not Sinners Assembly though).
According to budget submitted by ECNBA of which Prof. Chidi was the de fecto chairman, the cost of #NBADecide2022 is N32,653,300 plus $15, 000.00; this is contained in a publication by citylawyermag.com, the choice mouth piece of ECNBA throughout the conduct of #NBADecide. The budget is herein presented.
The N32,653,300 plus $15,000, was approved by emergency NEC after NEC had shaved off N4,000,000 from the original budget submitted by ECNBA.
Prof. Chidi, should kindly speak on the items particularly ECNBA office/admin and ECNBA Voter’s Education/Sensitization outreach. In his infamous Five Takeaway Form #NBADecides, Prof. Chidi admitting that “The rigging in 2018 resulted from compromising the integrity of the NBA’s data and not from inserting anything into the backend. Failed to tell us low his ECNBA built confidence to debunk, “tales of digital rigging of the NBA elections can sound like a mish-mash of Africa magic and Sci-Fi.”, refused to tell his readers what happened during voting?
During voting at the just concluded #NBADecides 2022, the system went black cumulatively for over 46 minutes. There were outcries by agents of candidates and no satisfactory explanation was given by ECNBA.
A candidate still maintains that, he lost the over 200 votes margin lead during these blackouts. He is still embittered and ECNBA has not offered any explanation to make him believe that, he was “voted out by popular votes.
Finally, the open paragraph of Prof. Chidi Odinkalu’s Five Takeaway, needs to be properly investigated, as he cast deep aspersion and mud on the NBA Electioneering process.
Prof. Chidi, which Governor or ruling party, sponsored a presidential candidate as “Don’t you know that the NBA is too important to be left out.”, speaks dirty volume about the legitimacy of NBA elected officers.
Your answer to the above will help NBA resolve your question“Legitimate questions may be asked as to the sources of such sums and as to why they are needed to buy what is supposed to be a platform for science”.
©Felix Chukwuma Ashimole, Esq.
An Aspirant for Publicity Secretary in #NBADecides2022 but was disqualified for the office of Assistant General Secretary by Chidi AnselmOdinkalu’s Committee.
