The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has concluded its 2026 national officers’ election, with Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, emerging as the association’s 33rd President. Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), Chief Aham Ejelam, SAN, announced the outcome on Sunday after the completion of……
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has concluded its 2026 national officers’ election, with Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, emerging as the association’s 33rd President.
Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), Chief Aham Ejelam, SAN, announced the outcome on Sunday after the completion of the electronic voting process.
According to the final results, Badejo-Okusanya secured 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the total votes cast, to defeat her closest rival, Lateef Akangbe, SAN, who garnered 7,934 votes (30.39 per cent). The third presidential candidate, Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, polled 5,855 votes, accounting for 22.43 per cent.
Ejelam disclosed that a total of 26,106 valid votes were recorded in the presidential election.
Badejo-Okusanya’s victory makes history, as she becomes the 33rd President of the NBA and the first woman to be elected to the association’s highest office. She is also only the second woman to lead the NBA, following Dame Priscilla Kuye, who assumed the presidency in 1991 after the then President, Clement Akpamgbo, SAN, vacated the office upon his appointment as Attorney General of the Federation. Her election comes 34 years after Kuye’s historic tenure.
Read Also: I Will Be A President For Every NBA Member, Says Badejo-Okusanya
Meanwhile, Mr. Afam Okeke was elected General Secretary of the legal body, having polled a total of 8,478 votes to defeat his opponents.
All the elected officials will be in office for a two-year period spanning 2026 to 2028.
Although the President-elect, Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, was absent when the results of the election were announced at the NBA headquarters in Abuja, a member of her campaign team, Mr. Aminu Gadanya, SAN, who revealed that she had a flight delay, declared her resolve to extend a “handshake of friendship” to all the aggrieved candidates.
In his remarks after the results were announced, the outgoing President of the NBA, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, noted that the election faced several challenges, including a cyberattack that almost derailed the electoral 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,” Osigwe, SAN, stated.
He urged the winners to be magnanimous in victory, warning that they should 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, SAN, added.
He said the ECNBA would carry out an in-depth analysis, especially of the challenges encountered, so as to come up with recommendations that will engender greater confidence in the association’s electoral process.
“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.
“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.
“The Bar must always protect its independence and eternally determine the course of its electoral process,” the outgoing NBA President added.
