EXCLUSIVE: EFCC Arrests, Quizes NBA Staff, Sarah Omega Ajijola Esq Over Alleged Malpractices In The 2018 NBA National Elections

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) last week
reportedly picked up Ms Sarah A Omega Ajijola Esq, a lawyer and an
NBA National Secretariat staff member who had worked closely with
the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA)
appointed by the immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA), Mr. A. B. Mahmoud, SAN, to conduct elections
into national offices of the Nigerian Bar Association in 2018.

The 2018 NBA Electoral Committee (ECNBA) was chaired by Prof.
Auwalu Yadudu while Mr. Bolaji Agoro served as the Secretary.

TheNigerialawyer learnt from a reliable source that Ms. Ajijola
was taken for questioning following a petition submitted
sometime in 2018, to the EFCC by Mr. Olumuyiwa Olowokure, Esq (now
deceased) who was a major supporter of one of the presidential
candidates in that election. It would be recalled that 2018 NBA
Presidential Election was won by MR. Paul Usoro, SAN, who is now
the President of the Association (NBA).

TheNigerialawyer learnt further that upon being arrested, Ms.
Ajijola had been taken to the EFCC office in Lagos for questioning
and she was later held incommunicado for days, without access
to her lawyer or family members. It was however learnt that the
anti-graft agency began interrogating and taking Ms. Ajijola’s
statements on Saturday, 21 September 2019.

TheNigerialawye further gathered that this arrest may not be
unconnected with recent investigations by the EFCC into Olowokure’s
petition, which had allegedly fingered the current President, Paul
Usoro, SAN as having some link with the alleged rigging of the 2018
presidential election of the Nigerian Bar Association.

However, TheNigerialawyer learnt that the EFCC has not been able
to find anything incriminating against Mr. Usoro nor linking Mr.
Usoro, SAN, to the work of the Prof Yadudu-led Election Committee
or time the conduct of the said election.

TheNigerialawyer reliably gathered that Ms. Ajijola’s arrest and
interrogation has also not helped matters as she did not say
anything that could be interpreted as incriminating the current NBA
president, Mr. Usoro, in respect of the allegations contained in
the late Mr Olowokure’s petition to the EFCC.

It should be recalled that following the declaration of Mr. Paul
Usoro as winner of the 2018 NBA Presidential election, the late
Mr.Olumuyiwa Olowokure, Esq had reportedly sent a petition to the
EFCC, alleging that the AB Mahmoud’s led
administration and the ECNBA that conducted the election, had
perpetrated some fraud in the conduct of the said election. Mr.
Olumuyiwa Olowokure, was a frontline supporter and campaigner
for Arthur Obi-Okafor, SAN during the election.

As at the time of filing this report we are yet to get any
response from the EFCC as to what could be its reasons for the
arrest and interrogation of Ms Ajijola. All their numbers are
switched off. It must be emphasized that Ms Ajijola was not the
then NBA President who had set up the Electoral Committee that
conducted the NBA National elections in 2018. Ms Ajijola was not
the Chairman nor the Secretary of the Electoral Committee (ECNBA)
for the 2018 NBA Presidential election. A number of Nigerian
lawyers who spoke on this matter, on condition of anonymity have
told Nairalaw that it was curious the anti graft agency
could be involved in such needless shadow-chasing in the name of
criminal investigations.

A very senior lawyer who spoke to Nairalaw
on condition of anonymity  specifically posed the following
questions:

“How many persons has the EFCC picked up over the numerous
allegations of monumental fraud and unprecedented electoral
malpractice allegedly perpetrated in the last (2019) presidential
and governorship elections in Nigeria? Has anyone alleged that Paul
Usoro or anyone working with him was a member of the ECNBA for the
2018 NBA presidential elections?

Was the 2018 NBA Presidential elections organized by Paul
Usoro? Was it Mr Paul Usoro that had appointed the ECNBA, the
Electoral Committee that conducted the 2018 NBA Presidential
election?

Why would anyone want to link Mr. Paul Usoro to any
allegations of rigging or fraud (if there was any at all) during
the 2018 NBA Presidential Elections?

By the way, What business does the EFCC have with NBA
elections? When has it become part of EFCC’s mandate to interfere
in elections of private organizations such as the NBA?

Was there any allegations of financial misconduct during the
last NBA elections? If there was, how does it lead to Usoro who was
not an NBA officer then? How many public agencies, institutions and
organizations has the EFCC interfered in their elections?

This is brazen witch-hunt and shadow-chasing!” Some other
lawyers interviewed by Nairalaw on the matter, however,
allege that Paul Usoro could be the target of this whole
investigation; otherwise, the ECCC knows or ought to know exactly
who and who to arrest or interrogate if the real intention or the
antigraft body was to conduct any investigations into the 2018
ECNBA.

According to some of the lawyers, the EFCC may have been sent
after Mr. Paul Usoro by the powers that be in Nigeria, on account
of Mr. Usoro’s unrelenting hard stance in favour of promotion and
sustenance of rule of law in Nigeria by all arms and agencies of
government. It is to be noted that since its election into office,
the Paul Usoro-led NBA National Leadership has persistently and
consistently stood up in condemnation of the rampant cases of
lawlessness and abuse of the constitution by the agencies of state,
especially executive arm of the federal government. This may have
drawn the ire of the powers that be who perhaps see Mr. Usoro as a
thorn in their flesh.

Hence the latest move to seek to nail him in connection with the
2018 NBA elections, with a view to charging him to court as part of
efforts to ease him out from office as the NBA President. A
cross-section of the NIGERIAN legal community has however described
such move as a wild goose chase, an exercise in futility, with many
pouring encomiums on Paul Usoro as a leader with foresight who has
conducted the affairs of the NBA in a most pragmatic and
independent manner. Finally, as observed by one lawyer, “of what
use would the NBA be if it fails to stand up in defence of rule of
Law and constitutionalism in a democratic setting?”

Nairalaw would bring you further updates as the
development unfolds. Stay connected.