Oyinkansola Badejo Okunsanya, SAN (popularly known as “Ms Bold”), has emerged as the winner of the 2026 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election, making history after a fiercely contested poll overshadowed by allegations of cyberattacks, voter suppression and widespread electoral irregularities.
The election, which was conducted electronically, witnessed unprecedented controversy from its commencement, with voting delayed for more than seven hours after the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) announced that the voting platform had come under a coordinated cyberattack.
Despite repeated calls by some presidential candidates and members of the Bar for the suspension of the exercise, the ECNBA proceeded with the election after restoring the platform and extending the voting period.
At the conclusion of voting, Oyinkansola Badejo Okunsanya, SAN, secured 12,317 votes to emerge victorious. She was followed by Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, who polled 7,934 votes, while Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, came third with 5,855 votes.
The outcome marks a historic moment for the Nigerian Bar Association, as Badejo becomes one of the few women to attain the Association’s highest office.
However, the election was conducted against the backdrop of persistent allegations questioning its credibility.
Several candidates and stakeholders had complained that the election was marred by serious technical failures, including the delayed commencement of voting, repeated collapse of the voting portal, alleged cyberattacks, authentication failures, and reports that thousands of eligible lawyers were unable to cast their ballots despite several extensions.
Other complaints included allegations that some candidates’ photographs were omitted from the presidential ballot, one candidate’s name was incorrectly displayed on the voting platform, and the One-Time Password (OTP) authentication process allegedly deviated from the ECNBA’s published guidelines by relying on email authentication instead of SMS.
Presidential candidates Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, and Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, had each issued separate statements before the close of polls challenging the integrity of the election and demanding its suspension, arguing that the cumulative effect of the alleged irregularities undermined confidence in the process.
General Secretary candidate Chidi Ezenwafor also raised concerns over reports that vote counts allegedly appeared on the platform before voting officially commenced and questioned timestamp inconsistencies allegedly observed by some voters.
The election also recorded one of the lowest participation rates in recent NBA electoral history.
Out of 82,172 accredited voters, only 26,184 lawyers successfully cast their ballots, representing a turnout of approximately 31.9 per cent, leaving more than 55,000 eligible members unable or unwilling to participate in the exercise.
Throughout election day, numerous lawyers took to social media to report difficulties accessing the voting portal, failure to receive authentication codes, prolonged system outages and unanswered complaints through the designated support channels.
While the ECNBA maintained that the integrity of the election remained intact despite the cyberattack and technical disruptions, critics have argued that the low voter turnout and reported irregularities raise fundamental questions about the credibility and inclusiveness of the process.
With the presidential result now declared, attention is expected to shift to whether any of the aggrieved candidates will formally challenge the outcome through the constitutional mechanisms of the Nigerian Bar Association or other available legal processes.
Although the election has produced a new President-elect, the controversy surrounding the conduct of the poll is likely to fuel renewed calls for comprehensive reforms of the NBA’s electronic voting system ahead of future national elections.