NBA Election: Many Lawyers Disenfranchised, Yet Badejo-Okusanya Could Have Won - SAN

Reactions are still coming in after the recent 2026 national officers’ election of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Monday Ubani, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has called for a thorough review of the election. The event was filled with issues, such as technical failures that stopped many qualified lawyers from voting.

Mr Ubani shared his thoughts in a post on Facebook on Tuesday. He congratulated Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, also a SAN, who won the presidential election of the association. He mentioned that both he and his son, who is also a lawyer, could not vote, just like many others, even after trying many times.

He explained that the One-Time Password (OTP) needed to complete the electronic voting did not come through after several attempts. “After several unsuccessful attempts, the response on my device changed to the now-familiar refrain: ‘This site can’t be reached,’” he said. Sadly, that was his experience until voting ended.

Mr Ubani, a former chairman of the Ikeja branch of the NBA in Lagos, served a term as the second vice president of the national association. He noted that his son faced the same problems, and many colleagues contacted him during the election to report similar issues. Some voters switched from mobile devices to laptops, thinking it would help, but they still faced challenges.

“Given this background, it would be hard to dismiss these complaints as isolated incidents or just the frustrations of a few unhappy voters. An electoral process that technically disenfranchises many eligible voters cannot be seen as free, fair, credible, and inclusive,” he said.

Mr Ubani emphasized that these issues were especially unfortunate because of the high interest the election generated. He said lawyers who wanted to vote should not have been unable to do so due to problems in the electoral system. “Anyone who claims there were no issues with the process, in light of the widespread complaints from members, is not giving a fair account of what happened,” he added.

Despite his concerns, Mr Ubani stated that he did not want to undermine the victory of Mrs Badejo-Okusanya and other elected officers. He believes she and the others could still have won. He urged Mrs Badejo-Okusanya’s upcoming leadership to reform the NBA’s electoral process, saying she could have won convincingly.

“Indeed, I believe Madam Badejo-Okusanya could still have won resoundingly even without the technical glitches that unfortunately cast a shadow over the process,” he wrote. He insisted that “issues from the election should not be ignored or swept under the carpet.”

Mrs Badejo-Okusanya defeated fellow SANs Lateef Akangbe and Olumuyiwa Akinboro in the election held from Saturday to Sunday. She received 12,317 votes, while Mr Akangbe had 7,934 votes and Mr Akinboro got 5,855 votes, according to the final tally from the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA).

Her victory makes her the first elected female president of the NBA and the second woman to lead the 66-year-old association, following Priscilla Kuye, who was president from 1991 to 1992. She is set to be inaugurated along with other newly elected officers during the NBA’s annual general conference from August 21 to 28 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Mrs Badejo-Okusanya will be the 33rd president of the association and the first woman elected to the role.

Mr Ubani urged the upcoming leaders to reform the electoral process. “The legitimacy of leadership is strengthened when genuine concerns about the process that produced it are openly acknowledged and addressed,” he wrote. He added, “The new NBA leadership should start with a candid examination of the electoral process that brought it to power.”

He called on the new NBA leaders to learn from Nigeria’s democratic history. He mentioned how late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua openly acknowledged in 2007 that the electoral process that got him elected was flawed and then initiated reforms. “That acknowledgment did not diminish his office; rather, it showed a willingness to confront issues in the system,” he said, urging the incoming NBA leadership to show similar courage.

“Madam Oyin Badejo-Okusanya owes the NBA community a responsibility to acknowledge the genuine complaints from this election and to support a transparent review of what went wrong,” he wrote. To address the controversial election, Mr Ubani raised questions that needed clear answers.

He asked, “Why did so many eligible voters face issues receiving OTPs? Why were members met with inaccessible platforms and error messages? How many voters were disenfranchised due to these technical failures? Were there enough contingency measures in place? And, most importantly, what reforms will ensure these failures do not happen again? These questions should not be seen as attacks against the winners. They are about the integrity of the Nigerian Bar Association,” Mr Ubani noted.

He added that lawyers often demand credible elections and accountability from the Independent National Electoral Commission and other public bodies. He said the NBA “cannot demand from others a standard that it does not strictly apply to itself.”

“The Association must conduct a thorough post-election audit and review of the 2026 electoral process,” he stated. He also called on the new leaders to ensure the audit findings are shared with members, that identified technological and administrative issues are fixed, and that appropriate safeguards are put in place ahead of the next election.

The election was held amid controversy over the electronic voting system and other parts of the process. Voting was supposed to start at midnight on Saturday but did not begin until 7:35 a.m. The ECNBA said the delay was due to a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” on the voting platform.

The election also faced legal and administrative challenges, including worries about the ECNBA's composition and the voters’ register. The Court of Appeal in Ibadan finally cleared the way for the election after overturning an order from the Oyo State High Court that stopped the ECNBA from conducting it.

The election attracted 26,184 votes for the 13 national officer positions, which is 31.86 percent of the 82,172 registered voters. This turnout was lower than the over 40,000 votes recorded in the 2024 NBA election. Mr Akangbe, who came second in the presidential race, rejected the process, calling it “shambolic” and “a shame to the Bar.”

In an interview with ARISE NEWS, he said the problems went beyond low voter turnout. “It’s not just low turnout. It was disenfranchisement. I couldn’t vote myself. The other candidate couldn’t vote. Even the winner couldn’t vote, but no one is talking about it,” he noted.

Mr Akangbe said the election hurt the legal profession’s moral authority to criticize electoral failures in public institutions. “We’ve become a laughingstock to the entire Nigeria,” he stressed, saying lawyers will find it hard to demand credible elections from the Independent National Electoral Commission and other bodies if the NBA itself had failed to conduct a proper election.

He questioned the legitimacy of the results, saying a flawed process cannot give a legitimate outcome. He added that if he were in the winner's position, he would support a new election, arguing it could help restore trust in the NBA presidency.

The outgoing NBA President, Afam Osigwe, defended the process, saying the election survived a coordinated cyberattack that nearly stopped it. Mr Osigwe said the ECNBA and its technical team moved to a secure server after the voting platform was disrupted, allowing the election to continue.

He urged members to move on and called on the new officers to be generous in victory. “This is a time for healing. In the end, the Bar must be the ultimate winner,” he stated. Mr Osigwe also mentioned that the ECNBA would carry out a thorough review of the election to understand the challenges faced and improve future elections.

The election has drawn mixed reactions from inside and outside the association. On Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu congratulated Mrs Badejo-Okusanya, calling her emergence a significant moment in the legal profession and a win for merit, excellence, and gender inclusion. President Tinubu urged her to reach out to the other contestants, unite the Bar, and address the issues that came up during the election.