Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya has emerged as the president-elect of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) after securing the highest number of votes in the association’s national election, which concluded on Sunday morning.
Badejo-Okusanya, the only woman among the three candidates contesting the presidency, received 12,317 votes in the 24-hour electronic election, which ran from 7:35 a.m. on Saturday to 7:34 a.m. on Sunday.
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She defeated fellow Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe and Olumuyiwa Akinboro. Final results displayed on the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) live results portal showed Badejo-Okusanya secured 47.18 percent of the 26,106 votes cast in the presidential race. Akangbe came second with 7,934 votes (30.39 percent), while Akinboro finished third with 5,855 votes (22.43 percent).
Throughout the voting period, the election dashboard updated results every 10 seconds. Across the 13 national offices contested, a total of 26,184 votes were recorded, representing a voter turnout of 31.86 percent out of the association’s 82,172 registered members.
Although the results have appeared on the ECNBA’s live portal, the electoral committee has yet to make a formal declaration.
Once sworn in, Badejo-Okusanya will become the 33rd president of the NBA and only the second woman to occupy the office in the association’s 66-year history. The first was Priscilla Kuye, who served as NBA president from 1991 to 1992.
The newly elected national officers are expected to be inaugurated during the NBA Annual General Conference scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, between August 21 and 28. Outgoing President Afam Osigwe and his executive committee will formally hand over leadership during the conference.
Election marred by controversies
The election witnessed lower voter participation than the 2024 poll, with 26,184 ballots cast compared to more than 40,000 votes recorded in the previous election.
In 2024, Afam Osigwe secured more than 20,000 votes to win the NBA presidency. This year, Badejo-Okusanya claimed victory with 12,317 votes, accounting for 47.18 percent of ballots cast in the presidential contest.
Voting, originally scheduled to begin at midnight on Saturday, was delayed for more than seven hours before eventually commencing at 7:35 a.m.
The ECNBA attributed the delay to what it described as a coordinated and sustained cyberattack by external actors attempting to disrupt the electronic voting system.
The electoral process also faced criticism over concerns about transparency, the composition of the ECNBA, and the credibility of the voter register—issues that have repeatedly surfaced since the NBA adopted electronic voting in 2016.
Several members had called for the election to be postponed, while efforts by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, to resolve the disputes failed to end the uncertainty.
The legal battle surrounding the election continued until the Court of Appeal in Ibadan overturned an earlier ruling by the Oyo State High Court that had restrained the ECNBA from conducting the 2026 NBA national officers’ election.
Compounding the controversy, the managing director of the company responsible for the electronic voting platform remained in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) during the buildup to the election.
It was not until Thursday that the NBA confirmed the election would proceed as scheduled after the official was released. The association’s National Executive Council had condemned the detention, demanded his release, and maintained there was no operational reason to postpone the poll.
Profile of the president-elect
Badejo-Okusanya was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2002 after earning a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Lagos, where she had earlier obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in English.
She began her legal career at Olaniwun Ajayi LP and was elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria on September 29, 2025.
In 2007, she served as Senior Special Assistant on Justice Sector Reform to former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, working within the office of the then Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Olasupo Shasore.
She is affiliated with several leading legal and arbitration bodies, including the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), African Arbitration Association, ArbitralWomen, International Bar Association (IBA), Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA), International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), and the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA). She also serves on the Board of the Lagos Court of Arbitration.
Within the NBA, she has held numerous leadership positions, including Assistant Secretary of the NBA Lagos Branch, member of several national committees, Alternate Chair of the 2023 Annual General Conference Planning Committee, and Chair of the 2024 Annual General Conference Planning Committee.
She became a member of the NBA National Executive Council in 2022 and received the NBA Presidential Medal of Service in August 2024.
Badejo-Okusanya is also a founding partner of Africa Law Practice NG & Company, established in 2017, where she currently serves as Co-Head of the firm’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice. The firm is recognised as one of Nigeria’s leading commercial law firms with partnerships and affiliations across Africa.
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