Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and the only female candidate in the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election, held a commanding lead with 45.18 per cent of votes counted as of Saturday afternoon, according to figures from the live election results portal checked at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday.
Badejo-Okusanya had accumulated 9,053 votes. Her closest rival, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, also a SAN, trailed with 6,253 votes, representing 31.27 per cent, while Olumuyiwa Akinboro, equally a SAN, accounted for 4,709 votes or 23.54 per cent. In total, 20,035 members had voted by that time, amounting to 24.38 per cent of the 82,164 registered voters.
Cyberattack Delays Voting by Over Seven Hours
The election, which was scheduled to begin at midnight West African Time, did not open until 7:35 a.m. following what the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) described as a "deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack" launched by external actors attempting to disrupt the process. The committee apologised for the disruption and said its cybersecurity team, working alongside the election service provider, had activated security protocols to contain the threat and restore the platform. As a consequence of the late start, voting was extended through to 7:35 a.m. on Sunday before a final count could be determined.
Akangbe Files Protest Letter Alleging Irregularities
The delay intensified tensions within the election, prompting candidate Akangbe to write a formal protest letter to the ECNBA calling for an immediate suspension of the poll. He characterised the situation as a "catastrophic structural and technical collapse" of the electoral process, citing widespread reports of authentication failures, error messages, and repeated timeouts that he said made the portal inaccessible to the majority of voters.
Akangbe further alleged that the ECNBA sent one-time passwords via email rather than SMS, contradicting assurances made to members within 24 hours of the election. He also raised concerns that the electronic ballot displayed the photograph of only one of the three cleared presidential candidates, with images for the remaining two either absent or failing to load. He called on the committee to preserve all electronic records, commission an independent forensic audit of the platform, and postpone the election until all identified concerns were addressed.
SSS Detention of Election Service Provider MD Preceded Poll
The controversy unfolded two days after a separate dispute in which the managing director of the NBA's election service provider was detained by the State Security Service. The NBA's National Executive Council condemned the detention and demanded the official's immediate release. The association later confirmed the official had been freed before voting commenced on Saturday.
Beyond the presidential contest, voters are simultaneously casting ballots for several other national offices, including First, Second and Third Vice President, General Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Secretary, and zonal representatives for the Eastern, Western and Northern zones.
Rivers Administrator Threatens Legal Action Against NBA
In a separate development, the sole administrator in Rivers state insisted that the N300 million paid to the Nigerian Bar Association by the suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara was for the hosting rights of the 2025 annual general conference (AGC). Ibok-Ete Ibas' leadership in the oil-rich state rejected the claim of the legal body that the payment was a "gift" and threatened to take legal action against the sole administrator. The NBA had claimed that it did not collect a hosting fee of N300 million from the administration of suspended Governor Fubara.
