Akangbe Petitions NBA Appeal Committee To Annul Badejo-Okunsanya’s Election

The first runner-up in the 2026 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election, Lateef Akangbe (SAN), has officially petitioned the NBA Appeal Committee to overturn the election that declared Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okunsanya (SAN) as the association’s president-elect.

In the petition dated 27 July 2026, Akangbe asked the committee to declare the 18 July election invalid due to what he described as significant breaches of the NBA Constitution, widespread voter disenfranchisement, technical failures, and a lack of transparency in the electronic voting process.

The petitioner is seeking declarations to annul the election and the results announced by the ECNBA, to set aside Badejo-Okunsanya’s victory, and to order a fresh presidential election.

The petition was filed against the Incorporated Trustees of the NBA, the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), and Badejo-Okunsanya.

The ECNBA had announced Badejo-Okunsanya as the winner of the election in July 20, 2026, having secured 12,317 votes (47.18 per cent). Akangbe received 7,934 votes (30.39 per cent), while Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, garnered 5,855 votes (22.43 per cent).

Akangbe argued, in his petition, that the election failed to adhere to the NBA Constitution and the ECNBA’s revised guidelines, asserting that the irregularities significantly impacted the election’s outcome.

The petitioner stated that the electronic voting platform crashed within ten minutes of voting commencing and remained inaccessible for over seven hours, preventing thousands of lawyers from casting their ballots.

Akangbe also claimed that although the ECNBA later attributed the disruption to a coordinated cyberattack, this had not been independently verified.

The senior lawyer further criticised the electoral committee for switching to another website without approval from the NBA’s National Executive Committee or the candidates’ consent.

He stated that the new platform was not independently tested or verified by the candidates’ IT representatives before voting resumed.

Akangbe also alleged that the ECNBA failed to disclose the status of votes cast before the initial platform crashed, which he said undermined the credibility of the process.

A central issue of the petition concerns the alleged failure of the electoral committee to deliver the One-Time Passwords (OTPs) needed to validate eligible voters.

He pointed out that, although the NBA published a register with 82,213 eligible voters, only 26,106 lawyers managed to vote, leaving 56,107 members effectively disenfranchised.

Akangbe maintained that over 25,000 of his supporters could not vote because they did not receive the authentication codes, and he stated that he could not cast a vote himself.

The petitioner also questioned the pattern of the live vote tally displayed during the election, suggesting that the increase in the declared winner’s votes followed a predictable pattern, which could imply pre-programming of the voting platform.

The lawyer further criticised the denial of access to his IT team to monitor the backend of the system, despite an earlier agreement that candidates’ technical experts would oversee the process.

Akangbe challenged the extension of voting beyond the scheduled closing time, stating that the poll continued into the early hours of 19 July without sufficient explanation.

As part of the reliefs sought, he urged the Appeal Committee to order a comprehensive forensic audit of the election, covering server logs, voter authentication records, database entries, voting timestamps, network traffic logs, OTP delivery reports, and other electronic data.

He maintained that these alleged breaches were substantive enough to render the election unconstitutional, invalid, and lacking legitimacy.

Therefore, Akangbe is seeking declarations to annul the election and the results announced by the ECNBA, to set aside Badejo-Okunsanya’s victory, and to order a new presidential election.

This petition represents the latest development in the ongoing controversy surrounding the 2026 NBA election.

Immediately after the results were announced, both Akangbe and third-placed candidate Akinboro rejected the outcome, citing technical issues, OTP delivery failures, and alleged manipulation of the electronic voting system.

The election faced delays after the ECNBA reported a coordinated cyberattack on the voting platform, leading to a migration to a different platform and an extension of the voting period. These disruptions prompted widespread complaints from lawyers nationwide, many of whom stated they could not vote due to access issues or undelivered authentication codes.

Despite the controversy, Badejo-Okunsanya accepted the result and called for unity within the legal profession. In her acceptance speech, she acknowledged concerns over the election and committed to restoring confidence in the NBA’s electoral process, urging members to move past the divisive contest. Her victory also made history as the second woman to lead the NBA and the first elected through universal electronic voting.

The NBA Appeal Committee had not fix a hearing date, and the ECNBA had yet to publicly respond to the specific allegations raised in Akangbe’s petition.