*Inching closer to becoming association’s first elected female President
*Afam Okeke leads in general secretary race
Ejiofor Alike
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and only female candidate, Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, last night tightened her grip on the lead in the presidential election of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), inching closer to becoming the association’s first elected female President.
Early figures also showed that Mr. Afam Okeke was leading five other candidates in the race for the position of General Secretary of the association.
Voting in the 2026 NBA National Elections resumed at 7:35 am yesterday after the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) said it had migrated the election portal to a new, secured domain following the technical failures that grounded the original portal in the early hours of the morning.
ECNBA 2026’s Chairman, Aham Ejelam (SAN) and Secretary, Ibrahim Aliyu Nassarawa, said in a statement that the platform came under a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” aimed at disrupting, sabotaging and undermining the election.
The ECNBA added that its cybersecurity team and Election Voting Service Provider, EVSP, immediately activated emergency security protocols to contain the threat and restore full functionality of the system.
It promised members that no votes were accepted during the disruption and that voting only commenced after the platform had been secured.
The committee maintained that despite the disruption, the election remained under its supervision, while candidates, agents and observers continued to monitor the process from the designated election centre.
ECNBA told NBA members that voting on the new portal would run for 24 hours from commencement, implying it would end by 7.35 am this morning.
In a statement released yesterday on its official X handle, NBA said voting, which commenced at 7:35 am, would run for 24 hours.
“Voting in the 2026 Nigerian Bar Association National Elections commenced at 7:35 am today, Saturday, 18 July 2026, and will remain open until 7:35 am tomorrow, Sunday, 19 July 2026,” the statement read.
Badejo-Okusanya and two others – Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe (SAN), and Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro (SAN) – were seeking to succeed the incumbent President of NBA, Afam Osigwe (SAN).
The total number of registered voters stood at 82164. According to the results on the “real-time voters’ dashboard for the 2026 NBA national elections,” as of 11 pm, Badejo-Okusanya was leading the other two presidential candidates with 11,352 votes, representing 46.69 percent of the 24,314 votes cast in the presidential election.
Akangbe was following with 7,415 votes (30.50 per cent), while Akinboro polled 5,547 votes (22.81 per cent).
For the position of General Secretary, early figures also showed that Okeke was leading five other candidates.
Okeke was leading with 4,054 votes, while his closest challenger, Dr. Rapulu Ernest Nduka, had 3,452 votes.
Chidi Ezenwafor occupied the third position with 2,553 votes, followed by Okey Leo Ohagba on 2,317; while Nnaebuka Onyebuchi Nwaeze and Barth Okoye-Aniche trailed significantly with 544 and 396 votes, respectively.
In the absence of any technical hitches, the final results would be declared this morning.
If Badejo-Okusanya emerges winner, she will become the association’s first elected female President.
The first female President of the NBA, Mrs Priscilla Kuye, stepped into the position of First Vice President when the elected President, Chief Clement Akpamgbo, was appointed the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice by the then Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.).
NBA President Osigwe had earlier dismissed allegations that he was attempting to rig or interfere with the election.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Friday, Osigwe insisted that the ECNBA operated independently and took no instructions from him.
He also denied claims that he was backing a preferred candidate, describing the allegations as politically motivated and unsupported by evidence.
The election was held after weeks of controversy over the scheduled date, with some presidential candidates and stakeholders questioning the integrity of the process, calling for the poll to be postponed, demanding mandatory National Identification Number (NIN) verification for voters, and accusing the NBA leadership of attempting to influence the outcome.
Osigwe denied the allegations, maintaining that only the Electoral Committee was constitutionally empowered to conduct the election.
According to Osigwe, allegations that NBA elections had always been manipulated had never been substantiated in court.
The NBA president also dismissed suggestions that his personal voting preference could influence the election’s outcome.
