The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has confirmed that its 2026 national officers’ election will proceed as scheduled on Saturday despite ongoing legal challenges and allegations that the process favours a particular candidate.
NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN), disclosed this while addressing journalists on Friday, assuring members that adequate measures had been put in place to ensure a credible and transparent election.
Osigwe said the association had invited the Department of State Services (DSS), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as well as international observers, to monitor the electronic voting process.
He dismissed claims that the election had been compromised, insisting that the seven-member Electoral Committee of the NBA was constituted through a transparent process approved by the association’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
The NBA president, however, expressed concern over attempts to disrupt the election through litigation and what he described as baseless allegations capable of undermining the association’s credibility.
The NBA had earlier zoned its presidency to the Western region, with three Senior Advocates of Nigeria—Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okunsanya and Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe—cleared to contest for the office.
The election process faced legal hurdles after Egbe Amofin O’odua, an association of Yoruba lawyers, sought recognition of Akinboro as the region’s consensus candidate. Although interim court orders initially affected parts of the electoral process, the Court of Appeal later vacated the restraining orders.
Osigwe said the NBA’s National Executive Committee had reaffirmed its support for the election during an emergency meeting, paving the way for the poll to proceed.
He also revealed that one of the association’s service providers was briefly detained before the election but had since been released, expressing optimism that there would be no further interference.
According to him, the electronic voting system has multiple security measures, including verification through lawyers’ enrolment numbers, email authentication, one-time passwords and National Identification Number (NIN) verification, to guarantee the integrity of the exercise.
The NBA president added that the association would review the circumstances surrounding the seizure of a laptop belonging to one of its service providers by the DSS.
