OYINKANSOLA Badejo-Okusanya is on course to become the next president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) following the emergence of results from the association’s ongoing election.
News Point Nigeria reports that results displayed on the live dashboard of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) showed Badejo-Okusanya leading the contest with 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the total votes cast.
Her closest challenger, Lateef Akangbe, garnered 7,934 votes, amounting to 30.39 per cent, while Olumuyiwa Akinboro secured 5,855 votes, representing 22.43 per cent.
According to the ECNBA dashboard, a total of 26,106 votes had been cast from 82,172 registered voters, representing a participation rate of 31.86 per cent.
The election commenced at 7:35 a.m. on Saturday and was scheduled to close exactly 24 hours later.
However, the Electoral Committee is yet to make any official declaration on the outcome of the poll.
If eventually declared the winner, Badejo-Okusanya will become only the second woman to lead the Nigerian Bar Association since its inception.
Priscilla Olabori Kuye remains the first female president of the NBA, having served from 1991 to 1992.
The weeks leading up to the 2026 NBA election were marked by disputes and controversies over the electoral process, including litigation, calls for the postponement of the exercise and disagreements surrounding the choice of a consensus candidate for the association’s presidency.
Shortly after voting commenced on Saturday, reports emerged that the electronic voting portal had suffered technical glitches.
Reacting to the development, Akangbe wrote an emergency protest letter to the ECNBA, demanding the immediate suspension of the election.
The former chairman of the NBA Lagos branch alleged that the electronic voting portal had collapsed and claimed that voters were receiving one-time passwords (OTPs) through email rather than via SMS, contrary to the committee’s revised guidelines.
Akangbe also alleged that the presidential ballot displayed the photograph of only one candidate while omitting those of the other contestants.
He argued that the alleged irregularities had undermined the credibility of the electoral process.
“A flawed, rushed election carried out today under these chaotic conditions cannot yield a credible result,” the NBA presidential candidate wrote in the protest letter.
“Whoever is declared the winner of an election conducted on a collapsed portal, with breached authentication, and on a visually defective ballot, will not lead the Bar with the confidence of the profession.”
Despite the controversy surrounding the exercise, Badejo-Okusanya maintained a significant lead as voting continued, with members of the legal profession awaiting an official announcement from the ECNBA.