The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has elected Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as its new president. She got the highest votes when voting ended early Sunday morning.
Mrs Badejo-Okusanya was the only woman among the three candidates. She received 12,317 votes to win the election, which took place through electronic voting for 24 hours, from 7:35 a.m. on Saturday to 7:34 a.m. on Sunday.
She beat her two male opponents, securing 47.18 percent of the 26,106 votes cast in the presidential election, according to the final results on the Live Election Results dashboard by the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA).
Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, came second with 7,934 votes (30.39 percent). Olumuyiwa Akinboro, also a SAN, finished third with 5,855 votes (22.43 percent).
The live results dashboard updated every 10 seconds during the voting period. PREMIUM TIMES monitored the dashboard for over an hour after voting was set to end at 7:34 a.m. to confirm the final results.
The total votes cast in the 13 national officers elections reached 26,184, a 31.86 percent voter turnout from the 82,172 registered voters. The ECNBA has yet to officially announce these results.
When she is sworn in, Mrs Badejo-Okusanya will be the 33rd president of the NBA. She will also be the second woman to lead the Nigerian Bar in its 66-year history. Priscilla Kuye was the first woman president, serving from 1991 to 1992.
The NBA will swear in its new national officers from Saturday’s election at its Annual General Conference. This conference is scheduled for August 21 to August 28 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The outgoing president, Afam Osigwe, and his team will hand over to the new leadership during the conference.
The election faced several controversies leading up to voting on Saturday morning. The turnout was low, with only 26,184 votes compared to over 40,000 in the last 2024 election.
In the 2024 election, Mr Afam Osigwe received more than 20,000 votes, over half of the ballots. Mrs Badejo-Okusanya's win was with 12,317 votes, about 47.18 percent of the total votes cast.
Voting was supposed to start at 12 a.m. on Saturday, but it did not begin until 7:35 a.m. This was the latest issue in the controversies before the election. The ECNBA said the delay was due to a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” aimed at disrupting the election.
The election process faced sharp criticism for a lack of transparency, an ongoing issue since the NBA started electronic voting in 2016. Many people called for the election to be postponed, raising concerns about the ECNBA’s constitution and the voter register's credibility.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, tried to resolve the issues, but uncertainty remained even two days before the election. On Tuesday, the Court of Appeal in Ibadan overturned a ruling that had blocked the ECNBA from conducting the elections.
Despite the appellate court’s decision, the managing director of the service provider for the voting platform was still held by the State Security Service (SSS) amid the disputes and allegations leading up to the election.
The NBA confirmed on Thursday that the election would go ahead as planned for Saturday after the service provider’s managers were released.
The NBA’s National Executive Council condemned the detention and called for the immediate release of the official, insisting there were no valid reasons to postpone the election. The NBA later confirmed that the official had been released before voting day.
Mrs Badejo-Okusanya was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2002 after earning her Law degree from the University of Lagos. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in English.
She began her legal career at Olaniwun Ajayi LP and became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on September 29, 2025. In 2007, she was appointed Senior Special Assistant on Justice Sector Reform to the then-Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, working with the then-Attorney-General, Olasupo Shasore.
She is a member of several organizations, including the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the International Bar Association (IBA). She also serves on the Board of the Lagos Court of Arbitration (LCA).
Mrs Badejo-Okusanya has held various leadership roles within the NBA. She was Assistant Secretary of the NBA Lagos Branch and a delegate to the 2006 NBA Elections. She also served on multiple committees and was co-opted as a member of the NBA National Executive Council in 2022.
She won the NBA Presidential Medal of Service in August 2024. In 2017, she co-founded Africa Law Practice NG & Company, where she is Co-Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice, making it a leading commercial law firm in Nigeria.
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