Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, has formally challenged the outcome of the 2026 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election, urging the NBA National Officers Election Appeal Committee (NBA-NOEAC) to nullify the exercise and order a fresh election over what he describes as widespread irregularities and substantial non-compliance with the NBA Constitution and electoral guidelines.
In a petition dated July 27, 2026, Akangbe challenged the declaration of Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okunsanya, SAN, as the winner of the July 18 presidential election.
According to the official results announced by the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), Badejo-Okunsanya secured 12,317 votes (47.18%), while Akangbe polled 7,934 votes (30.39%). The third candidate, Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, received 5,855 votes (22.43%).
At the heart of Akangbe’s petition are allegations that the electronic voting process was fundamentally compromised by technical failures and procedural breaches.
He alleged that the official voting platform became inaccessible within minutes after voting commenced and remained unavailable for more than seven hours. Although the ECNBA attributed the disruption to a coordinated cyberattack, Akangbe argued that the explanation has not been independently verified.
The petitioner further contended that the election was subsequently migrated to another electronic voting platform that had neither been approved by the NBA National Executive Council (NEC) nor subjected to testing by the information technology representatives of the candidates before deployment.
Akangbe also criticised the use of multiple voting websites and links during the election, arguing that the development created confusion among eligible voters and undermined confidence in the integrity and transparency of the electoral process.
He further questioned the voting pattern reflected in the live election results, alleging that expert analysis suggested a predictable progression of votes in favour of the eventual winner. Consequently, he requested access to the backend of the electronic voting system and other technical records to facilitate an independent forensic audit.
A major plank of the petition concerns the alleged disenfranchisement of thousands of eligible voters.
According to Akangbe, although 82,213 lawyers were cleared to participate in the election, only 26,106 eventually cast their votes, leaving 56,107 eligible voters unable to participate.
He attributed the low turnout largely to failures in the One-Time Password (OTP) authentication system, alleging that thousands of eligible lawyers never received the authentication codes required to vote.
Akangbe further claimed that more than 25,000 of the disenfranchised voters were expected to support his candidacy, arguing that the alleged failures materially affected the outcome of the election. He also stated that despite being a presidential candidate, he was unable to cast his own vote because of the technical difficulties.
The Senior Advocate also challenged the duration of the election, alleging that although voting was officially scheduled to end at 11:59 p.m. on July 18, the process was extended into the early hours of July 19 without adequate notice or proper explanation to contestants and voters.
As part of the appeal, Akangbe requested extensive access to the election’s electronic records, including the voters’ register, server and application logs, system backups, authentication records, OTP delivery logs, voting timestamps, administrative access logs, network traffic data, security protocols and other technical information necessary for what he described as a comprehensive forensic examination of the election.
He maintained that the alleged irregularities were substantial and capable of materially affecting the credibility and outcome of the election, contending that the declared results could not be regarded as the product of a transparent, credible and valid electoral process.
Accordingly, Akangbe is asking the NBA National Officers Election Appeal Committee to declare that the election was conducted in substantial breach of the NBA Constitution and the ECNBA Guidelines, nullify the presidential election, set aside the declaration of Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okunsanya, SAN, as the winner, and order the conduct of a fresh presidential election.
The petition names the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association, the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) and Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okunsanya, SAN as respondents.
The appeal marks the first formal legal challenge to the outcome of the 2026 NBA presidential election and is expected to test the Association’s internal electoral dispute resolution mechanism, particularly on issues relating to electronic voting, technological integrity and compliance with constitutional and electoral procedures.