One of three presidential candidates in the Nigerian Bar Association national elections, Dele Adesina (SAN), has called for the cancellation of the poll, describing the exercise as a sham.

In the electronic poll, which began at 11pm on Wednesday and is scheduled to end by 11pm on Thursday, Adesina was picking the rear with 3,730 votes as of 8.17pm.

A former Chairman of the NBA Section on Business Law, Olumide Akpata, was in the lead with 9,277 votes; while the third candidate, Dr Babatunde Ajibade (SAN), was in the middle with 4,063 votes.

Out the total 29,636 accredited voters, 17,174 had cast their votes as of 8.17pm.

Adesina’s call for the cancellation of the elections came few hours to the end of the exercise.

In a petition to the Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the NBA, Chief Tawo Tawo (SAN), Adesina alleged that the voter register contained “grave errors of omission and commission,” including the existence of “names of purported lawyers without branches ascribed to them from Serial Number 25171 to 29635.”

He added, “Several cases of reported disenfranchisement by members whose names were not on the list. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who contacted the helpline line to lodge his complaint, was told that it is because he did not have his SAN’s number. Query! Is SAN’s number a requirement?

“Issues were also raised on the security of the NBA Membership Portal.”

He stated, “I call on you Mr Chairman and members of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association to cancel this sham election.

“It is needless to say that if the process is bad, the product cannot be good. Thank you.”