• “BADEJO-OKUSANYA,” AKANGBE MISSING FROM BALLOT AND VOTERS’ REGISTERS

The three presidential candidates in the hotly contested 2026 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Election did not vote either for themselves or for their opponents during the election, CITY LAWYER can authoritatively report.

CITY LAWYER investigation shows that the name of NBA President-elect, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya SAN’s is missing both from the voters’ register published by the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) and the list of members who voted during the election.

However, while the name “Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya” is not listed on either of the ECNBA lists, one “OYINKANSOLA (MISS) OLUMIDE” is listed at Number 58,848 on the voters’ register under NBA Lagos Branch, with year of call to the Nigerian Bar as 2002. The name “OYINKANSOLA OLUMIDE” did not however appear on the list of members who voted.

CITY LAWYER investigation shows that the NBA President-elect was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2002. Her maiden name is “Olumide,” being the daughter of the pioneer Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Folabi Olumide who served from 1983 to 1988.

CITY LAWYER investigation indicates that the President-Elect is yet to effect a change of name at the Supreme Court to reflect her marital name of “Badejo-Okusanya” on the legal practitioners’ roll.

Also, one of the presidential candidates, Mr. Omoyemi Akangbe SAN is not listed on the voters’ register. This indicates that the presidential candidate could not have voted in the election even if he wished to do so.

On his part, Mr. Olumuyiwa Akinboro SAN’s name is also conspicuously missing from the list of members who voted during last Saturday’s election.

Akinboro’s name is however listed at Number 11,547 on the voters’ register under NBA Abuja Branch. It was unclear why the senior lawyer did not vote in the keenly contested election.

However, in a statement seen by CITY LAWYER, Akinboro had expressed concern over the election, saying that “The events surrounding this election have reinforced the urgent need for meaningful electoral reform. My reflections are offered in the hope that this moment will inspire the changes necessary to restore confidence in our democratic processes.”

Akangbe also called for suspension of the election mid-way into the poll, saying: “I say this plainly and unequivocally: a flawed, rushed election carried out today under these chaotic conditions cannot yield a credible result. Whoever is declared the winner of an election conducted on a collapsed portal, with breached authentication, and on a visually defective ballot, will not lead the Bar with the confidence of the profession. They will inherit a crisis of legitimacy from which neither they nor the Association will easily recover. The Bar has been here before. It cannot afford to be here again. The ECNBA has a choice. It can suspend the election now, investigate, fix, and rebuild, and conduct a credible process that the membership and reasonable individuals will respect. Or it can press on, declare a result that will be immediately and comprehensively challenged, and drag the Association into another cycle of litigation, recrimination, and public disgrace. I urge the Committee, in the strongest terms, to choose the former.”

CITY LAWYER recalls that the electoral committee reported that the voting portal was hit by “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyber attack,” leading to over seven hours delay in the restart of the election.

It was unclear at press time whether the disruption affected the presidential candidates in casting their votes during the poll.

Badejo-Okusanya was declared winner of the presidential election by the electoral committee. She polled 12,317 (47.18%) to defeat her two rivals. While Akangbe polled 7,934 votes (30.39%) to emerge runner-up, Akinboro garnered 5,855 votes (22.43%) to bring up the rear.

Of the 82,172 registered voters, 26,184 voted during the elections, showing a turnout of 31.86%.

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