NBA Presidential candidate LATEEF OMOYEMI AKANGBE SAN speaks on rescheduling of 2026 elections

FORMAL PROTEST AGAINST THE UNILATERAL RESCHEDULING OF THE ELECTION DATE AND THE STRUCTURALLY DEFICIENT GUIDELINES FOR THE CANDIDATES’ DEBATE DATED 3 ULY 2026 BUT PUBLISHED ON 4 ULY 2026

I write in my capacity as a presidential candidate in the 2026 NBA National Elections to place on record my formal protest against two circulars issued by the Electoral Committee dated 3 July 2026 but published on 4 July 2026: the Revised Timetable for Outstanding Activities in the 2026 NBA National Elections, and the Guidelines for the Candidates’ Debate and Manifesto Day.

Both circulars were communicated to me, and to the entire membership, simultaneously, by mass email and public publication, without prior structured engagement with the candidates whose interests they directly and materially affect. Both contain provisions that raise serious concerns about procedural fairness, stakeholder consultation, and the structural integrity of the electoral process. I address each in turn.

1. The Unilateral Rescheduling of the Election Date

The Revised Timetable announces that the date of the election has been changed from Monday, 20 July 2026 to Saturday, 18 July 2026. The circular states that this change was made “further to deliberations at the meeting of the Committee with candidates held on the 2nd of July 2026, and following some concerns earlier raised by critical stakeholders.”

I must correct this characterisation firmly and on the record.

At the meeting of 2 July 2026, one candidate for the office of General Secretary, Mr Okey Leo Ohagba, Esq., raised the question of whether the election date should be moved to a weekend. Mr Ohagba expressed the view, which I acknowledge as not unreasonable in principle, that a weekend election would facilitate greater voter participation.

The matter was discussed briefly. It was not put to a vote. It was not formally agreed upon. It was not ratified by the candidates present, either by consensus or by any other recognised decision-making procedure. No resolution was reached. No communiqué was issued. ‘The meeting moved on to other business.

For the Committee to now present this rescheduling as a decision taken “further to deliberations” at that meeting is, with respect, a mischaracterisation of what occurred.

What occurred was a suggestion by one candidate for one office in the course of a general discussion. What did not occur was a decision by the candidates, or by any quorum of candidates, to endorse a change to the constitutionally mandated election timetable.

The Committee has converted an informal suggestion into a formal timetable revision without the consent of the stakeholders most affected, and has then attributed the decision to those very stakeholders in its public circular.

The manner of communication compounds the concern. I, as a presidential candidate, did not receive prior notice that this change was being contemplated, let alone implemented. | learned of it the same way every other member of the Nigerian Bar Association learned of it: through a mass circular published to the entire profession on the morning of 4 July 2026.

A change of this magnitude, affecting the election date for a national election of over 80,000 voters, deserved a minimum formal notification to all candidates in advance of public announcement, an Opportunity to comment, and a structured process for recording consent of objection. None of this was done.

I further note that the rescheduling compresses an already tight timetable by two days and introduces a sequence of crucial activities, including the publication of the final Voters Register, the mock voting exercise, the final systems audit, and the pre-election platform lockdown, that now fall within a window so narrow that any slippage at any stage will cascade through the remainder of the process with no room for recovery.

The Committee has purchased the appearance of stakeholder responsiveness at the cost of operational prudence.

I formally object to this rescheduling. I reserve all my nights in respect of it.

2. The Structurally Deficient Guidelines for the Candidates’ Debate

‘The Guidelines for the Candidates’ Debate and Manifesto Day dated 3 July 2026 but published on 4 July 2026 set out, in considerable detail, the format, and running order for the debate scheduled for 8 July 2026. I have studied them carefully. While certain provisions reflect standard practice, the structure adopted for the presidential debate segment contains a fundamental deficiency that, if not corrected, will render the exercise a series of parallel monologues rather than a genuine debate.

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