Akangbe calls out NBA President Elect over refusal to conduct joint audit

A presidential candidate in the just concluded 2026 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) election, Mr Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, FCIArb, has accused the declared winner of the 2026 NBA election, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, as well as the NBA of hypocrisy over her position on electoral transparency and accountability.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Akangbe said the development followed the controversial national officers’ election conducted in July by the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), chaired by Mr Aham Ejelam, SAN.

He said he had earlier expressed appreciation to lawyers who participated in the election despite what he described as “demonstrable malpractice and incompetence” by the ECNBA.

According to him, his decision to challenge aspects of the electoral process was driven by the need to protect the democratic rights of lawyers allegedly denied the opportunity to vote and to ensure accountability within the NBA electoral system.

Akangbe recalled that the three leading presidential candidates adopted different positions following the election.

He said Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, rejected the election process outright, arguing that the exercise was not an election recognised by the NBA Constitution and that appealing to the National Officers Election Appeal Committee would amount to legitimising a body whose jurisdiction had not crystallised.

Akinboro, he added, also called for an immediate independent forensic audit of the entire electoral process.

Akangbe said he instead approached the National Officers Election Appeal Committee in accordance with the NBA Constitution while reserving his right to pursue further legal remedies.

He disclosed that he filed an interlocutory application seeking, among other things, an order directing the ECNBA to release, on a redacted basis, critical information, documents and databases relating to the electronic voting platforms and domains used for the election.

According to him, the requested information was intended to facilitate an independent assessment of the integrity of the election and determine, among other issues, the number of lawyers who may have been disenfranchised.


Read full statement below:


2026 NBA PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
THE HYPOCRISY OF THE OUTGOING AND INCOMING PRESIDENT CONTINUES
Distinguished Colleagues,

On 19 July 2026, a day after the shambolic election of national officers of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) organised by the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), under the Chairmanship of Aham Ejelam, SAN, I issued a ‘Thank You’ message to all Nigerian lawyers, expressing my appreciation for the efforts they put into the process despite the demonstrable malpractice and incompetence displayed by the ECNBA. In that press release, I also promised to communicate a comprehensive, fully informed and principled position on the next steps, and I pledged that such next steps would be grounded in evidence, anchored in law and above all, driven by a single objective: the protection of the democratic rights of every member of the Association who was denied their vote and ensuring accountability in our electoral process.

Recent developments have necessitated the need for me to issue this follow-up message and to highlight the hypocrisy presently on display not just from the proclaimed winner of the shambolic election, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, but also by the NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN. To place this statement in the proper context, it is pertinent to recall the reactions of the three NBA Presidential Candidates in the immediate aftermath of the election.

Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN understandably took the view that the charade that took place on 18 and 19 July 2026 was not an election known to the NBA Constitution and therefore that an appeal to the National Officers Election Appeal Committee of the NBA would amount to legitimizing a body whose jurisdiction has not crystallized. Very importantly too, he called for an immediate independent forensic audit of the entire electoral process to determine critical issues relating to the election.

On my part, for the records and for the sake of posterity, I appealed to the National Officers Election Appeal Committee of the NBA in line with the provisions of the NBA Constitution and as a prelude to the next steps that I intend to take, which include exploring all legal remedies under the law to ensure that the NBA as an institution is accountable to its members, and our electoral process is reformed. In line this, I filed a formal interlocutory application to the Appeal Committee seeking inter alia an order directing the ECNBA to immediately release, on a REDACTED BASIS (i.e., with all personal information removed), all critical information, documents and data bases of the electronic voting platforms and domain(s) used for the conduct of the election under the supervision of the Director General of the Nigeria Information Technology and Development Agency to guarantee and verify the integrity of the process.

Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, in the course of her celebratory media rounds, pledged to submit herself to an audit and IMMEDIATELY RESIGN, if credible proof demonstrates that the election which brought her into office was manipulated in her favour.

One would have expected that Mrs. Badejo-Okusanya, SAN would keep her word and willingly submit to any transparent democratic process that would independently audit the election with a view to ascertaining if indeed the election that brought her into office was manipulated.

Ironically, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN refused to acknowledge a message from me, calling for a joint audit and, more importantly, objected to my application for an audit, the essence of which was to ascertain the number of our members who were disenfranchised, on the basis that the release of the information would violate members' right to privacy and their data.

Unsurprisingly, the National Officers Election Appeal Committee of the NBA delivered its ruling on 14 August 2026 and dismissed my application. In other words, the same Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, who pledged to resign if credible evidence indicates election manipulation, turned around to object to an application that sought to examine the process and, if possible, expose the said manipulation.

The hypocrisy is further magnified by the fact that the NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, set up an NBA election monitoring group to monitor the recently held Governorship Election in Osun State. He also led a delegation to visit the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Osun State as well as the heads of the security agencies in the State where he “secured firm commitments towards the conduct of a free, fair, credible and peaceful election” and also “called on all institutions and individuals involved in the electoral process—including electoral officials, security agencies, political actors and public office holders, to REMAIN STRICTLY NEUTRAL AND REFRAIN FROM DEPLOYING THEIR OFFICES, POWERS OR INFLUENCE IN FAVOUR OF ANY CANDIDATE OR POLITICAL PARTY.” Underlining is for emphasis

In ending, let me repeat what I said on 19 July 2026, my campaign was never about one man. It was about the proposition that the NBA can be better; that it must be better; and that the lawyers of this country deserve an Association that works for them. If we are to actualise this, two things are necessary: first, we must continue to fight to ensure that things (our electoral process is conducted in accordance with our ideals of the rule of law, due process and accountability) are done properly, and second, hypocrisy is not the way to go.

Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, FCIArb
Candidate for President,2026 NBA Election
Nigerian Bar Association