Badejo-Okusanya Elected NBA President

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, has been elected the 33rd President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), emerging victorious in the association’s 2026 national election despite a cyberattack and technical disruptions that delayed the voting process.

Badejo-Okusanya secured 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the total ballots cast, defeating fellow Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Lateef Akangbe, who polled 7,934 votes (30.39 per cent), while Olumuyiwa Akinboro (SAN) garnered 5,855 votes (22.43 per cent).

The results, announced on Sunday at the NBA National Secretariat in Abuja by the Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), Aham Ejelam (SAN), followed the conclusion of an election that was temporarily halted after the association’s electronic voting platform came under a coordinated cyberattack.

A total of 26,106 lawyers participated in the election.

With the victory, Badejo-Okusanya becomes only the second woman to lead the Nigerian Bar Association, after Priscilla Kuye, who served as the association’s president between 1991 and 1992. She will serve a two-year term from 2026 to 2028.

Other officials elected include Oghenero Okoro as First Vice-President with 11,024 votes, Afam Okeke as General Secretary with 8,478 votes, Aghogho Gladys Okpomor as Assistant General Secretary with 14,312 votes, and Chinelo Audrey Ofoegbunam as Welfare Secretary with 14,911 votes.

Badejo-Okusanya was absent when the results were declared. A member of her campaign team, Aminu Gadanya (SAN), attributed her absence to a flight delay, saying the president-elect remained committed to fostering unity within the Bar.

According to him, she is prepared to extend a “handshake of friendship” to her opponents in the interest of strengthening the association.

Speaking after the declaration, outgoing NBA President Afam Osigwe (SAN) revealed that the election faced serious technical challenges, including a cyberattack that forced the ECNBA to rebuild and migrate its electronic voting infrastructure to a more secure server before voting could continue.

“Our colleagues planned to truncate the election, but we stood firm. Every effort to derail the process failed,” Osigwe said.

He urged the newly elected officers to be magnanimous in victory while encouraging unsuccessful candidates to support the new leadership in the interest of the association.

“To those who won, be magnanimous in victory; to those who lost, there is always another day. The unity of the Bar cannot be negotiated,” he added.

Osigwe also disclosed that the Electoral Committee would undertake a comprehensive review of the election process, particularly the cybersecurity challenges encountered, to strengthen future electronic voting exercises and safeguard the integrity of NBA elections.

The election had earlier been postponed after the ECNBA announced that its voting platform was hit by a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” just hours before polling was scheduled to begin. The committee subsequently restored the system and assured members that no votes were recorded before the platform’s security was fully verified.