Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, has emerged as the 33rd President of the Nigerian Bar Association.
Badejo-Okusanya defeated two other senior lawyers in the association’s 2026 national officers’ election.
The Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, Aham Ejelam, SAN, announced the results at the NBA National Secretariat in Abuja on Sunday, following the conclusion of the election, which was delayed by technical challenges and a cyberattack.
Ejelam said Badejo-Okusanya polled 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the total votes cast, to defeat her closest challenger, Lateef Akangbe, SAN, who secured 7,934 votes, representing 30.39 per cent.
The third presidential candidate, Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, polled 5,855 votes, representing 22.43 per cent.
According to the ECNBA chairman, a total of 26,106 votes were recorded in the election.
With her victory, Badejo-Okusanya will serve as the association’s president for a two-year tenure spanning 2026 to 2028.
Her victory also makes her the second female president of the association, after Priscilla Kuye, who led the NBA from 1991 to 1992.
Other elected national officers include Oghenero Okoro, who emerged as First Vice-President with 11,024 votes; Afam Okeke, who was elected General Secretary with 8,478 votes; Aghogho Gladys, who won the position of Assistant General Secretary with 14,312 votes; and Chinelo Audrey Ofoegbunam, who emerged as Welfare Secretary with 14,911 votes.
Badejo-Okusanya was absent when the results were announced.
However, a member of her campaign team, Aminu Gadanya, SAN, attributed her absence to a flight delay and said the president-elect was committed to extending a “handshake of friendship” to all aggrieved candidates in the interest of unity.
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Speaking after the declaration of the results, the outgoing NBA President, Afam Osigwe, SAN, said the election survived attempts to derail the process, including a cyberattack that forced the electoral committee to rebuild and migrate its ICT system 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,” he said.
He urged the newly elected officers to be magnanimous in victory and called on unsuccessful candidates to support the new leadership.
“To those who won, be magnanimous in victory; for those who lost, there is always another day. The cyberattack shows that we must do more in data protection. Let us collectively do things in an acceptable manner,” Osigwe said.
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