An Onitsha High Court presided over by Justice Theophine Oguji has adjourned to October 24, 2025, a suit on alleged electoral malfeasance and lack of transparency brought against the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) and two others.

In the Suit No. O/193/2025 dated July 24, 2025, the plaintiff, Mr. Steven Onyechi Ononye, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), is asking the court to determine:

1. Whether the Nigerian Bar Association a body governed by its constitution is
not bound to give effect to all the provisions of the said constitution where the said provisions do not infringe any statute or provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?

2. Whether the Nigerian Bar Association is not bound to be transparent and fair
in its conduct of its elections to elect officers of the body?

3. Whether by the combined provisions of Section 10 and Second Schedule part
II, Paragraphs l, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,9 and 10 of the Nigerian Bar Association,s
Constitution, 2021, the Defendants, are not under an obligation to ensure that
all qualified candidates in the NBA election, including the office of the President, are allowed to appoint agents to monitor every stage of the electoral process, including in real time, the backend of the electronic voting system in fulfilment of its constitutional mandate?

4. Whether by the combined provisions of Section 10 and Second Schedule Part II, Paragraphs t, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7, 8,9 and 10 of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Constitution, 202t, the Defendants are not under obligation to provide a verifiable and auditable electronic voting system in fulfilment of its
constitutional mandate to be honest, truthful, fair and transparent in the
conduct of Elections?

The defendants in the suit are the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association, the President of the body and Oluseun Abimbola SAN, who is Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA).

The plaintiff is seeking the following reliefs:

1. A DECLARATION that by the provisions of Section 10 and Second Schedule
   Part II, Paragraphs L, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, B, 9 and 10 of the Nigerian Bar
   Association’s Constitution, 202L, the Defendants are bound to give effect to all provisions of its constitution in the interest of fairness and transparency on the conduct of its election.
2. A DECLARATION that by the provisions of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)
   Constitution, 2021, all candidates in NBA elections are entitled to have their agents monitor every and all stages of the electoral process, including the virtual backend of the electronic voting system, which is also the virtual collation centre of the election in fulfilment of its constitutional mandate.
3. AN ORDER mandating the Defendants, by themselves or through their servants, agents, committee, appointees, or any other person by whatever name called to implement a transparent voting system that allows for real-time monitoring of the NBA Election by the candidates or their agents at all stages of the election including but not limited to the backend of the electronic voting system in any future NBA elections in fulfilment of its constitutional mandate.
4. AN ORDER mandating the Defendants to adopt a verifiable and auditabte electronic voting system in fulfilment of its constitutional mandate in the interest of fairness and transparency.

In what is being described as a landmark legal battle that may reset NBA’s electoral framework, the fiery Senior Advocate of Nigeria is contesting what he terms “a history of rigged, manipulated, and fraudulent elections.”

Ononye, angered by NBA’s electoral culture, says: “Since the adoption of universal suffrage which we all fought for and embraced as a fantastic development in our electioneering process, every single election has been tainted with rigging, backend manipulation, and data corruption; it has become a crime scene, not an election.”

In the suit, Ononye is not merely asking for cosmetic reforms but is demanding “a full surgical restructuring of the NBA’s electoral framework.”

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