The President-elect of the Nigerian Bar Association, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, has said she would resign if credible evidence emerged that the election which produced her as the association’s next president was rigged.

Badejo-Okusanya stated this on Thursday during an interview on TVC News while responding to allegations by some contestants and lawyers that the 2026 NBA presidential election was manipulated in her favour.

She insisted that the election, conducted through electronic voting, was subjected to unprecedented scrutiny and showed no signs of manipulation.

“The process that they say they cannot trust, my opponents are saying that it was rigged in my favour and thankfully, this electoral process has come under the greatest scrutiny that any of our elections have come under since we started universal suffrage and electronic voting,” she said.

According to her, there were no indications of vote dumping or sudden spikes in votes that could suggest manipulation.

“From the time that I led, I led the election throughout consistently. There was never a time that I dropped down. There was never a time that any of my opponents passed me. I led consistently and the gap kept widening.

“The votes were trickling in organically. There was no evidence of dumping, which is what they say happens when there’s rigging going on. You didn’t suddenly see 20, 30, 50 votes coming.

“This election was the most watched. We have a system that refreshes every 10 seconds. People were watching and reposting. It was clear that there was no rigging,” she said.

Responding to comparisons with former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who admitted that the election that brought him to power was flawed, Badejo-Okusanya said she had no intention of holding office if the process that produced her was found to be compromised.

“I had no desire to be a president whose electoral process, the process that brought me to power, was being questioned.

“I told my co-contestants in public that if there was any indication or allegation that the process that brought me to power was flawed, I wouldn’t even discuss it with anyone before I resigned. That still remains my goal,” she said.

On claims that she enjoyed the backing of the outgoing NBA President, Afam Osigwe, SAN, she said he never informed her that she was his preferred candidate.

“As a matter of fact, he never told me that.

“If he said it to anyone else, he never said it to me. I don’t know whether the cordiality and civility that he showed to me, whether I don’t have any impression that he wasn’t showing it to anyone else,” she said.

“The constitution of the NBA is very clear. I read it very closely before I offered myself to serve. I’m well aware of the responsibilities of the president of the NBA, and I have the mandate of members of the NBA to lead them. My obligation is to them,” she said.

Badejo-Okusanya said she wanted her tenure to be remembered for making the NBA more professionally relevant to its members and for defending the rule of law.

“For the members, I want them to remember my presidency as one that made the NBA more relevant to them professionally.

“For Nigerians, I want them to remember the NBA as one that took its responsibility to protect and promote the rule of law, to be the watchdog of society and to defend those who are less able to speak for themselves very, very seriously,” she said.

Her comments come amid sustained controversy over the July 2026 NBA national election, in which she polled 12,317 votes to become the first woman elected president.

The first runner-up, Lateef Akangbe, SAN, rejected the outcome, describing the exercise as “shambolic” and arguing that it had damaged the reputation of the legal profession.

“We’ve become a laughingstock to the entire Nigeria. Politicians are looking at us, other professionals are looking at us and saying, ‘Look at these lawyers, they can’t even organise themselves. They can’t even conduct a credible election,'” Akangbe said in an earlier interview.

He argued that the NBA had lost the moral authority to criticise Nigeria’s electoral process unless it first addressed shortcomings in its own elections.

Another presidential candidate, Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, also rejected the process, describing it as the worst election in the association’s history.

According to him, the voting portal crashed within 30 minutes of commencement, while his personal details appeared incorrectly on the platform when he attempted to vote.

He also questioned the explanation that the disruption resulted from a cyberattack, arguing that the anomalies indicated pre-existing problems with the electoral system.

Several lawyers, including Lagos-based practitioner Maduka Onwukeme, also alleged that many eligible voters were unable to obtain one-time passwords required to access the electronic voting platform, leading to widespread disenfranchisement.

Senior Advocate of Nigeria Jibrin Okutepa equally alleged that the election had been manipulated to produce a predetermined outcome, although he acknowledged that similar allegations made in previous NBA elections had not been proved in court.

Despite the criticisms, Badejo-Okusanya maintained that the election was transparent and that no credible evidence of rigging had been presented. (The Nation)

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