[AFRI-Discuss] Fwd: AFRALO NomCom candidate

Thu Jul 4 10:13:18 UTC 2019

Dear all,

Thank you, Muhammed, for your email.

Apologies for the late response. I was consulting with friends,  leaders
and my lawyers.

I would like to state the following

1. I can confirm that I informed you (and others) of my intention to resign
(for personal reasons) some weeks ago after being elected as the AFRALO rep
to NOMCOM before I was told of the decision of ALAC Chair (as it's not the
position of all ALAC members I spoke too.). ALAC chair should have been
patient in getting rid of me unfortunately many ‘mistakes’ have been made
by her and a few others in the process.

2. I believe the ALAC chair has personal issues with my person and she
decided to discuss this with a few of ALAC members as stated in her email.
I have lots of evidence to support this: from asking my name to be removed
from being a pen holder to asking ICANN staff to email me and lots more.
Please, I do not want to be pushed to sending all my evidence to the
community (everyone who has seen them knows I have a clear case) as it is
clear am being targeted here but I have a duty to protect the image of the
ALAC chair.

3. If my nomination is to be rejected why is a democratic ( bottom-up
approach in a multi-stakeholder environment) process not followed?

4. Why are ALAC members not allowed to vote on my nomination? is this a
bottom-up process? Is this democratic?  We need to ask questions.

5. Does the ALAC chair has the sole power to remove a candidate who is
democratically elected. Please, my personal opinion does not matter here.

4. I am shocked that the ALAC chair decided to suggest Hadia (top-down
approach), not just suggesting her, she has already spoken to Hadia about
this (from her email). A democratic process was in place, and I believe it
takes a ---------- to change the result of a democratic process. Please
think back to her earlier move to impose candidates and make a judgment.
Please don’t be fooled. If I were in Hadia shoes, I would have suggested to
her to follow a democratic process rather than agree to take up the
position using the military style.

5. None of the three reasons she gave is valid. In terms of leadership, I
am quite young and still learning, but I have been fortunate in life.  I
have held various leadership positions successfully, both locally and
internationally.  The Federal Government of Nigeria has nominated me into
different positions, (I can send my CV to anyone who wants to see, MY CV is
also in the public domain) For example, in 2017 in Argentina, All Ministers
of ICT/ Telecommunications from all the African countries endorsed my
nomination to become the Vice-chair for the ITU-D Telecommunications
Development Advisory Group (TDAG). Till date am the youngest person to have
held this position and the only thing that got me the position was the
leadership skills they saw in me. I can give more examples but the email is
becoming too long.

6. I have not violated any of ICANN's code of conduct.  I apologised for my
email during the run up to the elections not because the content was not
true but because I wanted us to move on and because I have duty to protect
the image of ALAC chair especially in public.

7 I have never been a member of NCUC, never been to an NCUC meeting and
never stated anywhere that I am a member of NCUC. Apart from At-large,
within ICANN I am only a member of RSACC caucus. Hence, this is a lie
against my person. My lawyers have been briefed for intentional defamation
of character on this. The ALAC chair knows how active I have been in
Atlarge and cannot deny this fact but has been pushing for me not to be so
active lately I now understand the tactics.  I have built a reputation for
myself around the globe and I would not allow anyone to come and destroy
this reputation.  I believe this point is a deliberate attempt to fool the
community. I would like the ALAC chair to provide the evidence of where I
said I am a member of NCUC. All ICANN meetings are recorded. Point number 1
and 2 cannot be substantiated and No 3 is a deliberate attempt to put
forward the reasons why other candidates were rejected in the past.  My
lawyers agreed with this and we shall be in court for on this.

 In conclusion, I would suggest that a fresh election should be called
(with new nominations) to fill in the vacancy as a result of my stepping
down in line with the principles of democracy.  The other candidates got
few votes. The community must be allowed to decide. The rules are clear
ALAC chair cannot just select for us. ICANN is not a military barracks

*To AFRALO community,  *

Please, I was hoping to come on here and inform you of the fact that I was
stepping down as AFRALO rep to NOMCOM as you voted for me overwhelmingly.
However, I am sorry that I can’t take up this position for some personal
reasons. I promise to continue to serve this community whenever I am called
upon. I would continue to be active in ICANN, I would continue to represent
your interest However PLEASE let me off this time. Let me spend my energy
and time in defending you in the best interest of the community. Once
again, I thank you for nominating me (without me asking to be nominated)
and for voting for me. Please just wish me well in my future endeavours and
I would continue to serve this community. I am not giving up cos of ALAC
chair personal decision but because of some other good reasons. I would
come back and shed more about this in future.

Please, I decided to share all of the above because I want you all to
understand some politics that are going on, make your own judgment and fill
in the blanks as appropriate. No one can bully me.

Let me also state that and I hold no grudge against the ALAC chair I am
willing to work with her in the best interest of the community and as it
natural, some people would not like the other person for no reason, but
they must be tolerated as best as possible, but I would be seeking a
redress.

AK

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