NBA Election Crisis: Badejo-Okusanya Faces Legal Battles, Pledges Electoral Reforms

The Nigerian Bar Association’s 2026 national officers election has continued to generate controversy, with allegations of irregularities, legal challenges and calls for electoral reforms threatening to overshadow the emergence of Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, as president-elect.

Badejo-Okusanya, the only woman among the three presidential candidates, secured 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the total votes cast, to emerge victorious in the electronic election.

Her closest challenger, Lateef Akangbe, SAN, polled 7,934 votes, or 30.39 per cent, while Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, came third with 5,855 votes, representing 22.43 per cent.

A total of 26,106 lawyers participated in the presidential election, which was conducted electronically between Saturday and Sunday.

Badejo-Okusanya is expected to be sworn in on August 21, 2026, as the 33rd president of the NBA and only the second woman to lead the association since its establishment in 1933.

But her emergence has been followed by a fresh wave of controversy, with both Akangbe and Akinboro rejecting the outcome and raising questions about the integrity of the electoral process.

Akinboro, a frontline contender, described the election as a sham and alleged that the process had taken the association to one of its lowest points.

Speaking on ARISE Television after the election, he accused the outgoing NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, of influencing the activities of the Electoral Committee of the NBA, while also questioning the constitutionality of the committee’s appointment.

Akangbe, a former chairman of the Lagos branch of the NBA, also challenged the credibility of the poll.

While voting was still ongoing, he reportedly submitted an emergency protest demanding the suspension of the election, alleging that the electronic voting portal had experienced disruptions.

He also claimed that voters received one-time passwords through email rather than SMS, contrary to the electoral committee’s revised guidelines.

According to him, the presidential ballot displayed the photograph of only one candidate at some point, raising concerns about the integrity of the system.

The allegations, however, contrasted sharply with the views of other lawyers who described the electronic voting process as smooth and efficient.

Abuja-based lawyer Deji Adeyanju, who participated in the election, praised the technology used by the NBA and urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to study the system as a possible model for electronic voting in Nigeria.

“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,” Adeyanju said.

He added that the NBA election demonstrated that electronic voting could work effectively in Nigeria when supported by appropriate systems.

Osigwe, however, rejected allegations that he influenced the election, maintaining that the electoral committee operated independently after being validated by the NBA’s National Executive Committee.

He disclosed shortly before voting commenced that one of the service providers involved in the election process had been arrested and later released by the Department of State Services, with his laptop temporarily seized.

Following the announcement of the results, Osigwe acknowledged that the election encountered significant challenges, including what he described as a cyberattack that nearly disrupted the process.

“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,” he said.

The outgoing NBA president called for healing within the association, saying the Bar must emerge stronger from the controversy.

He also said the electoral committee would conduct an in-depth assessment of the problems encountered during the exercise and make recommendations aimed at strengthening confidence in future elections.

The controversy has revived longstanding concerns over the credibility of NBA elections.

Similar allegations were raised after the 2022 presidential election, when Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama, SAN, who finished second, questioned the integrity of the electronic voting system used for the poll.

Gadzama had called for an audit of the election server, alleging that the technology was vulnerable to manipulation.

He said his polling agent, an ICT expert, had identified several technical issues, including frequent website timeouts and limited access to the system’s backend.

He further alleged that independent technical assessments indicated that the platform was susceptible to hacking and manipulation.

The 2022 election was won by Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, who polled 22,342 votes against Gadzama’s 10,842 votes, while Taidi Gunu received 1,380 votes.

Despite the recurring allegations surrounding NBA elections, the claims have not been conclusively established, while several legal actions arising from previous election disputes were dismissed.

Against this backdrop, Badejo-Okusanya has promised to make electoral reform one of the priorities of her administration.

Speaking after receiving her Certificate of Return, the president-elect acknowledged the concerns surrounding her victory, saying the need for reform went beyond the complaints of her immediate opponents.

She said there was a broader perception among lawyers that NBA elections were routinely manipulated and that the association could not afford to ignore the concerns.

“We must have an honest conversation about how elections should proceed going forward, because an election that keeps some people raising the same dust every cycle is not healthy for the growth of any association,” she said.

Badejo-Okusanya pledged to pursue reforms that would produce an electoral system trusted and respected by members of the Bar, while extending an olive branch to her fellow contestants.

However, the controversy surrounding her emergence may not end with electoral reform.

A group operating under the Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking an order to stop her swearing-in.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1471/2026, is also seeking an order for the maintenance of the status quo in the NBA leadership pending the determination of issues raised concerning the constitutionality of the processes that led to the 2026 election.

Separately, the Egbe Amofin O’Odua, an association of lawyers of Yoruba extraction, has also taken legal action against the NBA over its alleged refusal to adopt Akinboro as the consensus candidate of the Western Zone.

A similar suit, marked I/221/2026, is pending before the Oyo State High Court.

The legal action was instituted by four lawyer, Ibrahim Lawal, Raymond Oki, Omotan Olusola Ogunmodede and Chief Gabriel Ojo Adekunle Ijalana, who sought to halt the election process.

With the latest legal challenges now hanging over the planned August inauguration, Badejo-Okusanya faces the immediate task of defending the legitimacy of her mandate while attempting to unite a Bar that remains divided over the credibility of the electoral process.

For the president-elect, the controversy presents both a challenge and an opportunity: to restore confidence in the NBA’s electoral system and demonstrate that her promise of reform can translate into institutional change.