By Barth Ikiebe
Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, has been elected as the 33rd President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), becoming the second woman to lead the country’s foremost legal body in its over six-decade existence.
Badejo-Okusanya won the keenly contested 2026 NBA national officers’ election with 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the total votes cast, defeating two fellow Senior Advocates of Nigeria. Her closest rival, Lateef Akangbe, SAN, secured 7,934 votes (30.39 per cent), while Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, polled 5,855 votes (22.43 per cent).
Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), Aham Ejelam, SAN, declared the results at the NBA National Secretariat in Abuja on Sunday after an election that was delayed by technical difficulties and a cyberattack that disrupted the process.
Ejelam explained that a total of 26,106 votes were cast, with the president-elect set to serve a two-year tenure from 2026 to 2028.
The first woman to occupy the office was Mrs Priscilla Kuye, who served as NBA President between 1991 and 1992.
Also elected into the association’s national executive are Oghenero Okoro as First Vice-President with 11,024 votes, Afam Okeke as General Secretary with 8,478 votes, Aghogho Gladys as Assistant General Secretary with 14,312 votes, and Chinelo Audrey Ofoegbunam as Welfare Secretary with 14,911 votes.
Although Badejo-Okusanya was absent at the announcement of the results due to a flight delay, a member of her campaign team, Aminu Gadanya, SAN, said the president-elect was already reaching out to her opponents and remained committed to fostering unity within the Bar.
“She is determined to extend a handshake of friendship to all aggrieved candidates because the task ahead requires a united Bar,” Gadanya said.
In his farewell remarks, outgoing NBA President, Afam Osigwe, SAN, disclosed that the election survived what he described as deliberate attempts to undermine the process, including a cyberattack that forced the electoral committee to rebuild and migrate its ICT infrastructure to a more secure server.
“Our colleagues planned to truncate the election, but we stood firm. Every effort to derail this process failed. This is a trying time for the Bar. In the build-up to this election, many went to great lengths to rubbish the association,” Osigwe noted.
He called on the newly elected officers to be magnanimous in victory and urged defeated candidates to support the incoming administration in the interest of the legal profession.
According to him, the cyberattack underscored the urgent need for stronger data protection measures and a more resilient electoral system for the association.
Osigwe also announced that the ECNBA would undertake a comprehensive post-election review to address the challenges encountered during the exercise, strengthen cybersecurity safeguards and restore confidence in future NBA elections.
By her election, Badejo- Okusanya has become the first female to be elected to the NBA presidency. NBA first female president, Priscilla Kuye was the first vice president to Clement Akpamgbo, NBA president when Akpamgbo was appointed Attorney General of the Federation during the Babangida military junta. So, Kuye, automatically moved in as the president to replace Akpamgbo. Kuye’s chance to become elected as first female president of the body came in 1992 in Port Harcourt but that election was botched, though she would, presumably, have won given her popularity.
