NBA Election Controversy: Badejo-Okusanya Braces For The Storm, Pledges Reforms

The 2026 national officers’ election of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has remained a talking point, driven by a series of historical parallels and precedents that have evoked mixed reactions among legal practitioners across the country.

A major highlight of the election was the victory of the only female candidate in the three-horse presidential race, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, who has made history as only the second woman to lead the NBA since its formation in 1933 — replicating a feat last achieved 34 years ago.

Barring any setback, she is scheduled to be sworn in on August 21, 2026, as the 33rd President of the NBA, which prides itself on being the biggest association of lawyers in Africa.

Mrs. Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, clinched the NBA’s top job after defeating her closest challenger, Mr. Lateef Akangbe, SAN, who garnered 7,934 votes, representing 30.39 percent of the total votes cast in the election, which was conducted electronically between 12 a.m. on Saturday and 7 a.m. on Sunday.

The third candidate in the presidential election, Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, polled 5,855 votes, representing 22.43 percent, to emerge third in the contest. The Chairman of the NBA’s Electoral Committee, Chief Aham Ejelam, SAN, declared that Mrs. Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, polled a total of 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 percent, to win the presidential seat.

The election, conducted through electronic balloting, drew participation from 26,106 lawyers who voted in the disputed presidential contest.

While many lawyers have lauded the election as free, fair, and credible, describing the outcome as a true reflection of the will of the electorate, opposition has also mounted amid allegations of result manipulation.

The other presidential candidates, Akangbe, SAN, and Akinboro, SAN, promptly denounced the outcome of the election, which they alleged was skewed to favour a predetermined candidate. Akinboro, SAN, who was rated a frontline candidate, described the election as a sham that, he said, has brought the association to its lowest point.

Speaking during an interview on ARISE Television shortly after the election, Akinboro, SAN, alleged that the outgoing President of the NBA, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, influenced the activities of the electoral committee, whose members he alleged were unconstitutionally appointed.

He bemoaned what he termed the continued deterioration of the standard of elections in the association, insisting the 2026 polls were the worst yet.

The runner-up in the presidential poll, Akangbe, SAN, also rejected the outcome of the contest, reiterating his earlier query about the integrity of the Ejelam-led ECNBA.

Akangbe, SAN, a former Chairman of the Lagos branch of the association, had, while the election was ongoing, written an emergency protest letter demanding immediate suspension of the process.

He alleged that the electronic voting portal had collapsed, adding that voters were receiving one-time passwords (OTPs) through email instead of SMS, in violation of the committee’s revised guidelines.

According to him, the presidential ballot displayed the photograph of only one candidate while omitting the others, insisting the system was compromised.

An Abuja-based lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, furthered the claim by urging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor and emulate the technology the NBA adopted for the election.

“Registration, verification, and voting took me less than two minutes. The ECNBA has demonstrated that secure electronic voting is possible, using each lawyer’s unique Supreme Court number and OTP verification.

“INEC should closely observe this process and take lessons from it. Electronic voting can work efficiently and securely in Nigeria. The NBA election shows that electronic voting is achievable with the right systems,” Adeyanju stated shortly after he voted.

The outgoing President of the NBA, Osigwe, SAN, denied any alleged influence over the election, insisting the electoral committee, which he said was validated by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the association, operated independently.

In his remarks after the results were announced, Osigwe, acknowledged that the election faced several challenges, including a cyberattack that he said almost derailed the process.

He said: “Many went to great lengths to truncate the electoral process. They maligned the process with their utterances, but we held firm. Every effort to derail the process failed.

“This is a trying time for the Bar. Many persons may still go to great lengths to disparage the association. However, this is a time for healing. At the end of the day, let the Bar be the winner,” Osigwe, SAN, added.

He said the ECNBA would carry out an in-depth analysis, especially of the challenges encountered, so as to come up with recommendations that will engender greater confidence in the association’s electoral process.

“The cyberattack shows that we must do more, not only for data protection but also to protect our electoral integrity. We must insulate our electoral process from such activities.

“Someday the story will be told of how the ICT system had to be rebuilt and moved to a safer server to ensure that the election was held. “The Bar must always protect its independence and must eternally determine the course of its own electoral process,” he added.

Unfortunately, allegations of rigging have become a recurring feature at every NBA election cycle.
The runner-up in the 2022 NBA presidential election, Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama, SAN, alleged that he was rigged out of the contest.