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From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

AGroup under the auspices of Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) has said the endemic corrupt practices in the country is negatively affecting Nigerians.

The Deputy Executive Director of group Mr. Leo Atakpu asserted this during ANEEJ Cluster assessment report on the implementation of London Anti-Corruption Summit and Global Forum for Asset Recovery (GFAR) commitments meeting held yesterday.

According to him Nigeria is the 154 least corrupt nations out of 180 countries, according to the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International.

Mr. Leo explained that the meeting is being organized under the Enhancing Anticorruption and Social Inclusive Reform Initiatives in Nigeria project being implemented by ANEEJ and its eight partners as part of the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project.

According to him, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently revealed that 133 million Nigerians live in multi-dimensional poverty, saying public infrastructures such as power, roads as well as social services, particularly educational and health institutions are in dire conditions necessitating an unprecedented upsurge in brain drain.

“We are on the verge of another General election. Besides the need to guarantee the security of the lives and properties of Nigerians as they troop out to vote in the 2023 general elections, the ultimate outcome of the election will largely depend on the interface between the Bench, the Bar and the Political gladiators.

“As members of the Legal Profession, serving either on the Bench or at the Bar, we owe Nigerians sincere and honest participation in the process.

“We must do all that is

“While we shall stand with the Courts and do everything legal to protect the integrity of the Bench against any form of intimidation by the political class, any person or group of persons, we will not hesitate to call out and pursue disciplinary action(s) against erring judicial officials. Similarly, members of the Bar who misconduct themselves while participating in the resolution of electoral disputes will face disciplinary action at the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) and the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), where Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) are involved.

“I commend the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for all that it is doing to deliver a free, fair, and credible election to Nigerians.

“In this regard, my attention was drawn to a social media publication that the Nigerian Bar Association in Akwa Ibom State had endorsed a candidate in the forthcoming election. I took time to verify the information and I have confirmation that this indeed took place. I want to say in no unclear terms that we condemn the action of the few members who embarked on such despicable and disgraceful conduct using the platform of the NBA.

“That declaration was not made for or with the authority of the NBA. It is disgusting and I have already instructed the First Vice President NBA who is leading the NBA Election Monitoring Group, to immediately exclude all the branches of the NBA in Akwa Ibom State from participating

“This exclusion will be communicated to INEC forthwith and members involved in this conduct will also face disciplinary action as may be determined by the NBA. NBA is not partisan; we are not a political party, we are representatives of the people, we remain neutral and must be seen to maintain our neutrality at all times - we belong to everyone and to nobody.

“I also thank INEC for extending the deadline for the collection of PVCs which was a clear indication of its readiness and willingness to give every eligible Nigerian the opportunity to exercise his/her franchise. I wrote a letter in this respect based on the report by one of our Senior Counsel, Ms F. Boma Ayomide Alabi, SAN, which I adopted as the NBA position and had discussions with Mr. Festus Okoye, who assured me that the complaints were being considered, I was therefore not surprised at the intervention by INEC.”

Nigeria