Badejo-Okusanya Leads In NBA Presidential Poll

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, was in the early lead in the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election, with preliminary results released last night placing her ahead of her closest two opponents in a highly competitive contest.

Results available as at 9:26pm showed Badejo-Okusanya polling 11,230 votes. She was followed by Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe (SAN), who got 7,352 votes, while Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro (SAN) secured 5,509 votes.

Although the final results were yet to be announced at the time of filing this report, the 24,091 votes counted then suggested Badejo-Okusanya had established an early lead in the race to lead the nation’s umbrella body for legal practitioners.

The early tally comes against the backdrop of weeks of debate over the integrity of the election, with some presidential aspirants and stakeholders questioning the credibility of the process, calling for a postponement of the poll, demanding compulsory National Identification Number (NIN) verification for voters and alleging attempts to influence the outcome.

Those concerns prompted the NBA president, Afam Osigwe (SAN), to publicly refute, on Friday, allegations that he was interfering in the election or backing any of the candidates.

Reacting to rumours of postponement, Osigwe said the rumoured cancelation of the election was the handiwork of his detractors. According to him, the election has been fair, credible and peaceful.

He said that at about 5 pm on Saturday, over 152 lawyers had exercised their franchise.

Before the election, the president of the association and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had been at loggerheads over the conduct of the election.

While Fagbemi wanted the election postponed, Mazi Osigwe insisted that it must go on.