NBA Election: ECNBA Asks Appeals Committee To Reject Akangbe’s Petition

The Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) has urged the NBA National Officers Election Appeals Committee to dismiss the petition filed by one of the presidential candidates, Lateef Akangbe (SAN), challenging the declaration of Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya (SAN) as the winner of the association’s 2026 presidential election.

In its reply signed by its lead counsel, Chief Aikhunegbe Malik (SAN), the ECNBA described Akangbe’s petition as “lacking in merit and substance,” claiming it was driven by “emotionalism and personal prejudices” rather than credible evidence.

The committee also urged the Appeals Committee to reject all reliefs sought by the petitioner, stating that the election was conducted substantially in line with the NBA Constitution and electoral guidelines.

This response comes one week after Akangbe approached the Appeals Committee to seek annulment of the election, alleging widespread irregularities, constitutional breaches, technical failures, and voter disenfranchisement.

The lawyers had claimed that the electronic voting process was marred by system failures, inconsistent vote counts, and the exclusion of thousands of eligible lawyers, urging the committee to invalidate the poll or order a new election.

Badejo-Okusanya, however, rejected these allegations, affirming that her victory reflected the will of NBA members.

She had also called on aggrieved contestants to pursue their grievances through constitutional mechanisms and urged members to unite and move beyond the election for the good of the association.

However, in its response to the petition, the ECNBA raised several preliminary objections, arguing that the petition was fundamentally incompetent and should be struck out.

It noted that Akangbe relied on the outdated 2015 NBA Constitution as amended in 2021 instead of the current 2025 Constitution, failed to name the ECNBA as the statutory respondent, and included entities not recognised as juristic persons under the NBA Constitution.

The committee also asserted that the petition violated mandatory provisions governing election disputes, adding that its grounds, facts, and reliefs were inconsistent, speculative, and not capable of being granted by the Appeals Committee.

Defending the election process, the ECNBA maintained that no votes had been successfully cast before voting was suspended on July 18 due to technical issues with the initial voting platform.

The committee further submitted that voting later resumed on a new domain after eligible voters received One-Time Passwords (OTPs), emphasising that those who followed the correct procedure were able to vote successfully.

It further dismissed Akangbe’s claim that over 56,000 lawyers were disenfranchised during the election, arguing that the figure cited was simply the number of verified voters who chose not to participate and that low voter turnout should not be mistaken for disenfranchisement.

The respondent also rejected allegations of vote manipulation, unexplained tally discrepancies, use of unauthorised platforms, and pre-programmed voting patterns, describing these accusations as baseless, sensational, and unsupported by evidence.

Therefore, the ECNBA urged the Appeals Committee to dismiss the petition entirely and uphold Badejo-Okusanya’s declaration as the duly elected President of the Nigerian Bar Association.