A new development has emerged in the ongoing controversy surrounding the recently concluded national election of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA. A group of lawyers has petitioned the Abuja Federal High Court to halt the inauguration of the newly elected national officers, including President-elect Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, and others.
Outvoting her opponents, Lateef Akangbe (SAN) and Olumuyiwa Akinboro (SAN), Badejo-Okusanya received 12,317 votes. On August 21, 2026, she will succeed incumbent President Afam Osigwe, SAN, after being sworn in.
The referendum, which was carried out electronically, has been dogged by claims of anomalies.
In a pending lawsuit numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/1471/2026, the Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, is the plaintiff, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, and the NBA are the respondents. The plaintiff is requesting that the Abuja Federal High Court halt the inauguration of the new NBA leadership, and the NBA is one of the organisations named as respondents.
In its original summons, ALDRAP requested that the Abuja Federal High Court prevent the AGF from meddling in the NBA election and further prohibit the AGF and NBA from meddling with the conferral of the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, a title it had introduced to replace the SAN title for Nigerian lawyers who do not practise litigation. The Nigerian Law Society (NLS) and the Law Society of Lesotho were nominated by ALDRAP to serve as impartial observers for the NBA election by the court.
The plaintiff requested the court to include the newly elected NBA President Badejo-Okusanya and other individuals and entities as required parties/respondents in the lawsuit in the supplementary reliefs filed on July 20, 2026.
Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, YIAGA, Amnesty International (Nigeria office or its agent), and TMG are among the other parties the plaintiff is attempting to include in the lawsuit.
“Until the final determination of this suit or further order of this court, an order of interim/perpetual injunction restraining the 2nd Respondent (NBA), its agents, privies, National Executive Committee, or any persons claiming through them, from swearing in Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, or any other person into any other National Office, was specifically requested by the plaintiff.”
Similarly, the court was requested to maintain the current NBA leadership pending the final verdict in the lawsuit.
The lawyers’ association laid out the reasons for the application by claiming that it already has a case in court challenging the legitimacy, legality, and constitutionality of the procedures leading up to the 2026 NBA election. The issues in the suit include voter disenfranchisement, technical issues with the e-voting platform, non-compliance with the timetable approved by the NBA NEC, and the application of constitutional principles under Section 134(2) of the 1999 Constitution.
It went on to say that in order to settle the contentious questions about the election, including whether or not it was legitimate and how the leadership changed hands, the entities and individuals it wants to be named as parties in the lawsuit must be present.
Concerns about the NBA election’s administration were voiced by Jesse Williams Amuga, Esq., ALDRAP’s administrative secretary. Amuga expressed his worries about the procedure after noting that none of the observers who watched the exercise were prepared to provide an account of their findings.
According to Amuga, neither domestic or foreign election observer has produced any evidence to support the claims made by the NBA president and the ECNBA regarding the e-voting infrastructure they supposedly used twenty-four hours after the purported NBA elections.Concerned about damaging their reputations, Amnesty, YIAGA, and TMG are all acting cautiously. It says a lot that no outside parties are weighing in on the purported NBA elections.