By Emmanuel Thomas l Sunday, July 19,2026
ABUJA — The Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) has officially declared Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, as the 33rd President-elect of the country’s foremost legal association.
Announcing the final results at the NBA National Secretariat in Abuja on Sunday, the Chairman of the ECNBA, Chief Aham Ejelam, SAN, stated that Mrs. Badejo-Okusanya secured a decisive victory following a rigorous 24-hour electronic voting window.
According to the official results released by the electoral umpire, Badejo-Okusanya polled a total of 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 percent of the entire valid ballots cast. She comfortably cleared the path ahead of her closest challenger, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, who garnered 7,934 votes, accounting for 30.39 percent.
The third contender in the highly competitive presidential race, Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, pulled in 5,855 votes, representing 22.43 percent of the total tally. Chief Ejelam noted that out of the tens of thousands of verified legal practitioners across the country, a total of 26,106 votes were recorded for the highly coveted presidential position.
In other major positions, Mr. Afam Okeke was elected as the new General Secretary of the legal body, polling 8,478 votes to overcome his opponents. The newly elected national officers will pilot the affairs of the Nigerian Bar for a two-year period spanning 2026 to 2028.
Cyberattacks and Technical Hurdles
The victory did not come without dramatic hurdles. The electronic election, which was originally scheduled to commence smoothly, faced severe disruptions early on Saturday due to what the ECNBA described as a “deliberate, coordinated, and sustained cyberattack” targeting the verification and voting infrastructure.
Outgoing NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, acknowledged the initial setbacks but commended the electoral body’s cybersecurity team and technical partners for swiftly isolating the platform’s vulnerabilities and restoring system integrity. Despite the technical glitches and temporary anxieties over one-time passwords (OTPs) and voter authentication, the situation was stabilized, allowing thousands of Nigerian lawyers to exercise their franchise remotely.
Though Badejo-Okusanya was temporarily absent at the secretariat during the physical declaration due to local flight delays, her campaign representative, Mr. Aminu Gadanya, SAN, accepted the declaration on her behalf. Gadanya emphasized that the president-elect is dedicated to running an inclusive administration and would immediately extend a “handshake of friendship” to all fellow contestants to unify the bar.
Backgrounding the Story: A Historic Milestone for the Nigerian Bar
The emergence of Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya as the leader of the Nigerian Bar Association marks a historic turning point in the demographic composition of Nigeria’s legal leadership.
By securing this victory, she effectively shatters a 34-year-old glass ceiling to become only the second female president in the history of the NBA. Since the association’s inception, the only other woman to have sat in the presidential saddle was Dame Priscilla Kuye, who led the legal body between 1991 and 1992. For over three decades, successive administrations have been led strictly by male Senior Advocates, making Badejo-Okusanya’s triumph a deeply symbolic moment for gender inclusion within the legal ecosystem.
Badejo-Okusanya, a co-head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution at the law firm ALP NG & Co., brings more than two decades of extensive public policy, commercial arbitration, and litigation experience to the role. She previously served as the Senior Special Assistant on Justice Sector Reform to the former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN. Elevated to the inner bar as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in September 2025, her campaign focused heavily on accelerating institutional reforms, advancing access to justice, protecting human rights, and building sustainable professional capacity for younger lawyers.
The incoming administration will be officially inaugurated during the upcoming NBA Annual General Conference, which is scheduled to take place between August 21 and August 28 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where Mazi Afam Osigwe will officially hand over the mantle of leadership.
