No Going Back On July 18 NBA Election, Committee Vows

The chairman of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) Chief Aham Ejelam (SAN) has said there will be no going back on the July 18 date for lawyers in Nigeria to elect their new national leaders.

He vowed not to resign his appointment no matter the blackmail and threats from opposing individuals.

In a statement yesterday, the ECNBA boss said ‘The election remains scheduled for Saturday, 18th July, 2026, in accordance with the revised timetable published by the ECNBA.

The committee has publicly reiterated that the process will continue unless altered by a competent constitutional authority.

His statement was against the backdrop of a call from, Mr, Chief Yomi Alliyu (SAN), in which he called upon him to resign as chairman of the Electoral Committee of the NBA.

Ejelam’s statement read “I have read the open letter dated 11 July 2026, authored by my learned friend and call mate, Chief Yomi Alliyu, SAN, in which he called upon me to resign as chairman of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA).

“Ordinarily, I would not respond to a publication founded on fabricated assumptions, unverified allegations and matters presently awaiting judicial determination.

“However, because his letter seeks to question the integrity of the ECNBA and may mislead members of the Nigerian Bar Association, it has become necessary to place a few facts on record particularly when he has made it available to bloggers with his photographs prominently displayed to achieve his purposes of diminishing my person and character and indeed the electoral committee.

“My acceptance of the chairmanship of the ECNBA was not motivated by personal ambition, political patronage or any promise of reward. It was an acceptance of a difficult professional responsibility at a critical moment in the history of the Bar.

“I will not abandon that responsibility merely because Yomi Aliyu, SAN is unhappy that I occupy that position.

“He has alleged that I am corrupt without presenting credible evidence of corruption. The repeated use of condemnatory expressions cannot transform conjecture into fact, nor can the threat of reputational damage substitute for proof. There are legal consequences for false accusations.

“My record of service to the legal profession spans several decades. I am prepared to have my conduct examined against the NBA Constitution, the applicable electoral guidelines and verifiable evidence, not against personal opinions, political disagreements or speculative questions presented as established facts. Blatant lies do not transform themselves to facts by constantly repeating them.

“The Electoral Committee derives its authority from the Constitution of the Nigerian Bar Association and the decisions of the Association’s competent organs.

“The constitution of the Committee was presented to the National Executive Council of the NBA. Due process was followed in establishing the ECNBA. Nobody can unilaterally dissolve the Committee, declare its members illegitimate or demand their resignation outside the mechanisms provided by the NBA Constitution.

“The ECNBA remains bound by the Constitution and will continue to discharge its mandate unless otherwise directed by a competent organ of the Association or a court of competent jurisdiction.

“The suggestion that the election service provider was imposed upon the ECNBA, or that I accepted a service provider at the direction of any interested person, is false.

‘The Committee considered the information and representations placed before it in the course of the procurement and engagement process. The legal structure of a service provider, without more, does not establish incompetence, illegality or electoral compromise.

“Similarly, an allegation concerning the filing of annual returns at the Corporate Affairs Commission does not, by itself, establish that the provider lacks the technical competence to perform the contracted services or that the ECNBA has engaged in wrongdoing.

“Any person possessing credible evidence that the service provider has manipulated a previous election, unlawfully obtained members’ data or compromised the present process should submit that evidence formally to the Committee or to the appropriate investigative authority.

“Serious allegations cannot responsibly be sustained through insinuations in an open letter. The said service provider was never given any opportunity by any Committee to respond to such unfounded allegations by a partisan group.

“The ECNBA has not authorised any person to deploy unlawfully acquired data for the 2026 NBA National Officers’ Election”.