Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, has extended her lead in the ongoing Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, presidential election, emerging as the candidate to beat after a dramatic start to the poll that was delayed by a cyberattack on the association’s electronic voting platform.

Updated results released at about 6:00 p.m. on Saturday showed that 21,665 lawyers out of 82,164 registered voters had cast their ballots, representing a 26.37 per cent turnout.

Of the votes counted so far, Badejo-Okusanya polled 9,930 votes (45.82 per cent) to maintain a comfortable lead over her rivals.

Her closest challenger, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, secured 6,708 votes (30.99 per cent), while Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, garnered 5,021 votes (23.21 per cent).

The latest figures indicate that Badejo-Okusanya has consolidated her advantage as voting and collation continue in one of the most keenly contested NBA presidential elections in recent years.

The election had earlier been thrown into uncertainty after the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, ECNBA, announced an indefinite delay in the commencement of voting following what it described as a coordinated cyberattack on its electronic voting platform.

Voting was originally scheduled to commence at midnight on Saturday but failed to start as planned after the electoral body disclosed that external actors targeted the platform in an apparent attempt to compromise the integrity of the process.

In a statement signed by the Chairman of ECNBA 2026, Aham Ejelam, SAN, and the Committee’s Secretary, Ibrahim Aliyu Nassarawa, Esq., the electoral body said the platform came under a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” aimed at disrupting, sabotaging and undermining the election.

The ECNBA said its cybersecurity team and Election Voting Service Provider, EVSP, immediately activated emergency security protocols to contain the threat and restore full functionality of the system.

The committee assured members that no votes were accepted during the disruption and that voting only commenced after the platform had been secured.

The development heightened anxiety among lawyers across the country, coming amid weeks of controversy over the conduct of the election, with some stakeholders raising concerns about voter verification, the electronic voting process and the overall integrity of the poll.

Despite the disruption, the ECNBA maintained that the election remained under its supervision, while candidates, agents and observers continued monitoring the process from the designated election centre. (Saturday Vanguard)

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