Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya is on the verge of making history as the next President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), following the conclusion of the 24-hour electronic voting process on Sunday morning.
Data from the live dashboard of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) indicates that Badejo-Okusanya, the only female candidate in the three-way presidential race, has secured a commanding lead.
As voting drew to a close, Badejo-Okusanya polled 12,317 votes, representing 47.18% of the total ballots cast. Her closest rival, Lateef Akangbe, garnered 7,934 votes (30.39%), while Olumuyiwa Akinboro secured 5,855 votes (22.43%).
If officially declared the winner by the ECNBA, Badejo-Okusanya will become only the second woman to lead the prestigious association in its decades-long history, following in the footsteps of Dame Priscilla Kuye, who served as NBA President in the early 1990s.
Low Turnout and Technical Hurdles
Despite a registered voter base of 82,172 lawyers, the election saw a participation rate of just 31.86%, with 26,106 votes recorded on the ECNBA dashboard. The election, which began at 7:35 am on Saturday, ended on Sunday morning, though the electoral body has yet to issue a final official declaration.
Petitions and Pre-Election Friction
The transition to a potential Badejo-Okusanya presidency has not been without controversy. The weeks leading up to the poll were marred by litigation and intense debates over the choice of a consensus candidate.
Even as voting progressed on Saturday, the process faced significant pushback from the opposition. Lateef Akangbe, a former Chairman of the NBA Lagos Branch, filed an emergency protest with the ECNBA, demanding an immediate suspension of the exercise.
Akangbe alleged that the electronic portal had “collapsed” and cited a breach of the committee’s guidelines, claiming that voters were receiving One-Time Passwords (OTPs) via email rather than SMS. He further alleged a visual defect on the digital ballot, claiming the photograph of only one candidate was displayed while others were omitted.
“A flawed, rushed election carried out today under these chaotic conditions cannot yield a credible result,” Akangbe wrote in his protest letter. “Whoever is declared the winner of an election conducted on a collapsed portal… will not lead the Bar with the confidence of the profession.”
Despite these allegations, the ECNBA allowed the voting window to conclude. Legal observers are now watching closely to see if the official declaration will be met with further legal challenges or if the Bar will unite behind its new leadership.
As of press time, the legal community awaits the formal pronouncement from the ECNBA to confirm the emergence of a new era for the Nigerian Bar.
