The Nigerian Bar Association has elected Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, as its 33rd President, making her the second woman to lead the association since its establishment in 1933.
According to Vanguard, the Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the NBA, Chief Aham Ejelam, SAN, announced the results on Sunday after the successful completion of the association’s 2026 national officers’ election.
The election proceeded despite internal disagreements, an initial technical problem and an alleged cyberattack that threatened to disrupt the electronic voting process.
Badejo-Okusanya secures 12,317 votes
Ejelam declared Badejo-Okusanya the winner after she received 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the total votes cast.
Her closest challenger, Lateef Akangbe, SAN, polled 7,934 votes, representing 30.39 per cent.
The third candidate, Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, received 5,855 votes, representing 22.43 per cent.
The electoral committee recorded a total of 26,106 votes in the presidential contest.
Badejo-Okusanya’s victory makes her the second female president of the NBA, 34 years after Dame Priscilla Kuye became the first woman to lead the association.
The President-elect will serve a two-year term from 2026 to 2028.
Meanwhile, Afam Okeke emerged as the association’s General Secretary after receiving 8,478 votes.
Campaign promises reconciliation
Badejo-Okusanya was absent when officials announced the results at the NBA headquarters in Abuja because of a delayed flight.
However, a member of her campaign team, Aminu Gadanya, SAN, said she would extend a “handshake of friendship” to the other candidates and their supporters.
Gadanya said the incoming president would prioritise reconciliation following the disagreements that surrounded the election.
The outgoing NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, also urged the winners to remain humble and celebrate moderately.
“This is a trying time for the Bar. Many persons may still go to great lengths to rubbish the association. However, this is a time for healing. At the end of the day, let the Bar be the winner,” Osigwe said.
Cyberattack threatened election
Osigwe disclosed that the election faced several challenges, including a cyberattack that nearly disrupted the voting 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.
According to him, the technical team had to rebuild the association’s information and communication technology system and transfer it to a more secure server to complete the election.
“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,” he said.
Osigwe said the incident demonstrated the need for stronger data protection and additional safeguards for the NBA’s electronic electoral system.
“The cyberattack shows that we must do more, not only for data protection, but to protect our electoral integrity. We must insulate our electoral process from such activities,” he added.
He said the Electoral Committee would conduct a detailed review of the challenges encountered during the exercise and recommend measures to improve confidence in future elections.
Osigwe also urged the association to protect its independence and maintain control over its electoral processes.
