The controversy trailing the just concluded national election of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, has taken a new twist as a group of lawyers has asked the Abuja Federal High Court to stop the swearing in of the President-elect, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, and other newly elected national officers.
Badejo-Okusanya secured 12,317 votes to defeat the other
contestants, Lateef Akangbe, SAN, and Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN. She is slated to
be sworn in on August 21, 2026, when she will take over from the outgoing
President, Afam Osigwe, SAN.
Allegations of irregularities have trailed the poll, which
was conducted through electronic format.
A lawsuit is now threatening the outcome of the exercise as
the Abuja Federal High Court has been asked to halt the inauguration of the new
NBA leadership in additional reliefs filed in a pending suit numbered
FHC/ABJ/CS/1471/2026, between the Incorporated Trustees of the Association of
Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, as plaintiff, and the
Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, and the NBA, as respondents.
In the initial originating summons, the plaintiff, ALDRAP,
had asked the Abuja Federal High Court to stop the AGF from interfering in the
NBA election, and also order that the AGF and the NBA cannot interfere in the
conferment of the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, which it
introduced as an alternative to the SAN title for non-litigation lawyers in
Nigeria. ALDRAP had also asked the court to appoint the Nigerian Law Society,
NLS, and the Law Society of Lesotho, to act as independent observers during the
NBA election.
In the additional reliefs filed on July 20, 2026, the
plaintiff asked the court to join newly elected NBA President Badejo-Okusanya
and some other persons and entities as necessary parties/respondents in the
suit.
Others the plaintiff seeks to join in the suit are Aare
Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, Amnesty International
(Nigeria office or it’s representative), YIAGA and the Transition Monitoring
Group, TMG.
The plaintiff specifically asked for “An order of
interim/perpetual injunction restraining the 2nd Respondent (NBA), its agents,
privies, National Executive Committee, or any persons claiming through them,
from swearing in Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, or any other person as
President of the Nigerian Bar Association or into any other National Office,
until the final determination of this suit or further order of this court.”
The court was, in the same vein, asked to order the
maintenance of status quo in the leadership of the NBA pending the final
determination of the suit.
Stating grounds for the application, the lawyers’
association maintained that it has a live suit pending before the court, which
is challenging the validity, legality and the constitutionality of the
processes leading to the 2026 NBA election, including issues of voter
disenfranchisement, technical failures of the e-voting platform, non-compliance
with NBA NEC-approved timetable, and the applicability of constitutional
principles under Section 134(2) of the 1999 Constitution.
It added that the presence of the persons and entities it
seeks to join as parties in the suit is required for the final determination of
controversial issues surrounding the election, particularly its validity and
the resulting leadership transition.
Administrative Secretary of ALDRAP, Jesse Williams Amuga,
Esq, expressed reservations at the conduct of the NBA election. Amuga observed
that none of the observers who monitored the exercise are willing to give an
account of what they observed, a development which he said raises concerns over
the process.
Amuga said, “Twenty-four hours after the alleged NBA
elections, not a single international or domestic election observer has
released any report to corroborate their observations of the e-voting
infrastructure that both the NBA President and the ECNBA alleged that they
deployed…Amnesty, YIAGA and TMG are afraid of soiling their respective
reputations. If no independent observers are commenting on the alleged NBA
elections, that speaks volumes.”
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