2023: Yiaga Africa Partners NBA, Young Lawyers Forum To Provide Pro Bono Service for Young Candidates
- Young candidates and persons with disabilities (PWDs) vying for political offices will now get legal pro-bono services during this election cycle
- Yiaga Africa confirmed its partnership with the NBA and the Young Lawyers Forum to help this set of candidates
- This means young candidates and PWDs will now get good legal advice and have a grasp of electoral laws heading into the 2023 polls
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Sokoto, Sokoto - In the build-up to the 2023 general elections, Yiaga Africa, Nigeria's foremost election observer, and civil society group, has secured a crucial partnership with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Young Lawyers Forum ahead of polls.
As contained in a statement made available to Legit.ng on Tuesday, December 20, the partnership will help provide pro-bono legal services to young men, women, and persons with disabilities (PWDs) vying for public offices at the forthcoming general elections.
Source: Twitter
Yiaga Africa, at an election law clinic, made this announcement during an interactive session with young lawyers interested in specialising in election law.
Speaking during the law clinic hosted in Sokoto and Lagos state, the director of programs, Yiaga Africa Cynthia Mbamalu said, the role of lawyers is becoming crucial in the electoral process as Nigeria's electoral jurisprudence continues to evolve, especially with the passage of the Electoral Act in 2022.
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She said the election law clinic is driven by a specially designed module informed by both the challenges identified by young men and women who contested in previous elections and the trends in election litigation since the passage of the Electoral Act 2022.
Mbamalu said:
"With every new legal framework, it also opens up a conversation of the theories around implementation because as there are now more issues to be contested and more issues to be tested".
Yiaga Africa urge young candidates to have understanding of electoral rules
She stated that while there have been successful advocacy for the inclusion of young people in Nigeria's political process, there are questions about the capacity of young people to afford legal advisory and representation.
She said:
"In engaging young people in the process, a lot of what we saw as a major challenge was that a lot of them needed to understand the fundamental laws guiding the elections and how to challenge an injustice perpetrated to them in the process.
"If you are campaigning but don't know the rules of the game, you're already losing because you need to know the rules of the game to understand how to contest and win your election."
This, according to her, maybe as easy as having legal advice rather than even going to court.
Speaking on behalf of the President of the Young Lawyers Forum in Sokoto state, Umar Ali, the former President of the forum, welcomed the initiative saying it's indeed timely, coming close to the 2023 elections.
He said the law clinic is also an opportunity for young lawyers to demonstrate their capacity to contribute to credible elections in Nigeria.
Ali said:
"What the forum has been looking for always is a platform like the law clinic to have an avenue to enhance our capacity and exposure to be able to deliver."
Source: Legit.ng
