2024 Otu Oka-Iwu General Election: Electoral Committee Releases Conduct Guidelines

In exercise of the powers conferred by the Constitution of Otu Oka-Iwu Abuja Dated 1st day of January 2015, the Electoral Body herein referred to as “the 2024 Otu Oka-Iwu Electoral Committee” issues the following Guidelines for the conduct of Election into the offices of Executive Council of Otu Oka-Iwu Abuja.

These guidelines are in line with the provisions of the Constitution of Otu Oka-Iwu Abuja 2015. They are issued as a collective decision of the Electoral Committee.

A. ELECTION TO WHICH THESE GUIDELINES APPLY:

These guidelines shall apply to the conduct of elections to the following
offices:

• President

• Vice President

• General Secretary

• Assistant General Secretary

• Financial Secretary

• Treasurer

• Publicity Secretary

• Social/Welfare Officer

• Provost

B. DATE AND VENUE OF ELECTION INTO THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF OTU OKA-IWU ABUJA.

Election to the offices of the Executive Council shall be conducted on the 25 th day of April, 2024. The venue of the election shall be at, NOVARE CENTRAL COMPLEX (Shoprite Building) Zone 5, Wuse Abuja.

C. WHO CAN VOTE AND BE VOTED FOR AT 2024 OTU OKA-IWU ABUJA GENERAL ELECTION?

• Section 20 (1) (2) (3) and (4) at Page 22 of OTU OKA-IWU Constitution provides. Only Financial members shall be eligible to hold any Office of the Association or Vote at any meeting or Election.

• Only Financial members who are at least (10) ten years old at the bar and have shown committed interest in the affairs of the Association shall be eligible to contest for the post of President and Vice President.

• For the post of General Secretary the candidates must be at least 8 years old at the Bar and have been financial members of the Association. For other posts, candidates must be at least two years at the Bar.

D. ELIGIBLE CANDITATES AND ELIGIBLE FINANCAIL MEMBERS

• For any Candidate to be eligible to contest any position, the person must have paid his Annual dues from year 2021 being the preceding year of the last election, till date (2024).
• Only Financial Members who have paid his or her Annual due for 2024 will be eligible to vote on the Election Day.

E. SUBMISSION OF LIST OF ELIGIBLE VOTERS

List of Members who are eligible to vote shall be duly authenticated and submitted to the Electoral Committee by the Executive Council of Otu Oka –Iwu Abuja, on or before the expiration of the stipulated period of submission of names of eligible voters

F. ELECTION INTO OFFICES OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

• No candidate shall be allowed to contest for more than one position at the Executive Council during the election.

• A candidate shall be automatically disqualified to vie or contest for any office of the Executive Council once he contests for a given position and loses.

G. NOMINATION FORMS

• The Nomination Forms for election into Executive Council of Otu Oka-Iwu shall be available for purchase at the 2024 Otu Oka-Iwu Abuja Electoral Committee Secretariat at No 2 Tanga Street Wuse Zone 6 Abuja.

• Payment for the Nomination Form shall be made into the following account details. AC/NAME: OTU OKA-IWU AC/NO: 5700030314 BANK NAME: Fidelity BANK PLC;

• Candidates must submit duly completed Nomination Forms in an envelope together with one passport-sized photograph with evidence of payment to the Secretariat of 2024 Otu Oka-Iwu
• Electoral Committee on or before 4.00 pm on 5th day of April, 2024.

• Each candidate shall upon submission of the Nomination Forms, be issued with a duly signed Acknowledgment Slip as evidence of the return of the Nomination Form.

• Completed application forms should be accompanied with a copy of the profile of the Candidates which shall comprise of not more than 500 words and shall highlight the contributions of the Candidates to OTU OKA-IWU ABUJA.
• The Nomination Form for each Candidate shall be endorsed by two (2) financial members qualified to vote.

The fees ascribed to the Nomination Form shall be according to the offices available at the Executive Council of OTU OKA-IWU.

These offices will be in three (3) strata, namely:
a. Category A Office of President N50,000.00
b. Category B: This category includes the following offices
i. Office of the Vice-President N30,000.00
ii. Office of the General Secretary N30,000.00
iii. Office of the Financial Secretary N30,000.00
iv. Office of the Treasurer N30,000.00

c. Category C:This category includes the following offices:

i. Office of Ass. General Secretary N20,000.00
ii. Office of the Publicity Secretary N20,000:00
iii. Office of the Provost N20,000:00

H. SCREENING OF CANDIDATES

• The Electoral Committee shall follow the closure of sale and Submission of Nomination Form; conduct a screening exercise to confirm the eligibility of each candidate to contest the election into the Executive Council in line with the Constitution of Otu Oka-Iwu Abuja.

• The List of Qualified Candidates shall be published to the General Assembly on OTU OKA-IWU Whatsapp Forum 1 and 2.

I. RULES GOVERNING THE PROCESS OF THE ELECTION

• No Candidate shall employ the use of offensive or derogatory language or message or comments that are meant to disparage other candidate (s) neither would the use of comments invoking sectional, religious and any other partisan biases or sentiments be permitted during the electioneering process.
• No Candidate shall entice or coerce any member of the Association with a view to influencing the choice of such member in the election venue.

• The Electoral Committee may prohibit any activities which it considers to be inconsistent with the voter’s right to privacy or which may lead to a breakdown of law and order.

• The decision of the Electoral Committee as to the suitability or appropriateness of any conduct or activity carried out during the electioneering process shall be final.

• A Candidate who violates any of the requirements of the preceding paragraph or who fails to comply with a direction of the Electoral Committee in respect of appropriateness of the process
• for the elections may be disqualified from participating in the elections.

• Only Qualified Members are allowed to enter the venue of the election, except accredited Observers approved by the Electoral Committee.

J. VOTING PATTERN AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF RESULTS OF THE ELECTIONS

• The method of voting shall be through a Secret Ballot System, where all eligible Members will secretly vote for a candidate of their choice without fear or hindrance.

• Election for all the offices of the Executive Council shall be conducted simultaneously and the votes shall be counted immediately afterward.

• At the close of the election for all the offices, the results of the elections shall be formally announced, with a winner declared.

• The voting process shall go according to the hierarchy of offices with the office of the President-General first and the office of the provost last.

K. GENERAL

• Any Candidate who is aggrieved or dissatisfied with the decision of the screening exercise conducted by the Electoral Committee in respect of his nomination may, within twenty-four (24) hours of the announcement of duly qualified candidates, submit an appeal against such decision of the Electoral Committee to the Executive Council.

• The Executive Council shall, upon receipt of any such appeal consider the same expeditiously and communicate its decision to such Candidate. The decision of the Executive Council in respect of any such appeal shall be final.

• The Electoral Committee shall serve as the Appeal Panel andentertain petitions and complaints against any aspirant.

• A petitioner must depose to an affidavit in support of his petitionbefore it will be entertained by the Electoral Committee.

• No complaint or petition shall be entertained against a candidate after the candidate has been screened and cleared by the Electoral Committee.

• Frivolous and vexations complaints or petitions against any aspirantshall not be entertained by the Electoral Committee.

Please click the link below to access the detailed timetable for the upcoming elections of the Association.

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