History was made on Sunday. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, has been elected the new president of the Nigerian Bar Association. For the first time in 35 years, a woman will lead the NBA. And in the association’s 66-year history, she will only be the second.
How the votes played out
It was a 24-hour online election that ended at 7:34 a.m. on July 19, 2026. Badejo-Okusanya came out on top with 12,317 votes. She defeated two other Senior Advocates of Nigeria. Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe got 7,934 votes, while Olumuyiwa Akinboro got 5,855.
26,184 lawyers out of 82,172 registered members voted. That’s 31.86% turnout.
It didn’t start smoothly. Voting was meant to begin at midnight on Saturday, but it didn’t open until 7:35 a.m. The NBA’s Electoral Committee, ECNBA, said hackers launched a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” on the system.
Despite the late start, the election went on. Results were updated live on the ECNBA dashboard for everyone to see.
Badejo-Okusanya will be sworn in as the NBA’s 33rd president at the Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, from August 21 to 28. She takes over from Afam Osigwe. The only other woman to lead the NBA was Priscilla Kuye in 1991-1992. She stepped in to complete the term of Clement Akpambo after he became Attorney-General.
In her thank-you speech, Badejo-Okusanya sounded emotional and grateful.
“I am truly humbled by the confidence you have placed in me,” she said.
Her promise was simple: “I will be a President for every member of the Nigerian Bar Association.” She said her focus will be on better welfare for lawyers and a stronger, more united Bar.
But not everyone is celebrating
The election left some lawyers angry. Both Akangbe and Akinboro rejected the results.
Akangbe called it a “catastrophic structural and technical collapse.” He said many colleagues couldn’t log in, some got OTPs by email instead of SMS, and ballot photos were missing. He added that even he couldn’t vote.
Akinboro didn’t mince words either. He called the whole process a “charade” and asked why voting didn’t start when it was supposed to.
The ECNBA blamed hackers. But critics said the problems went deeper issues with transparency and the voter register. The election was already in court days before it started. It took a Court of Appeal ruling in Ibadan to overturn an order that had restrained the poll. Turnout was also much lower than in 2024, when over 40,000 lawyers voted. Outgoing president Afam Osigwe is now appealing for peace. “Let us put this behind us and stay united,” he told members.
Who is Badejo-Okusanya?
She’s not new to leadership. Called to the Bar in 2002 after graduating from the University of Lagos, she became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria just last year, on September 29, 2025.
She once served as Senior Special Assistant on Justice Sector Reform to former Lagos Governor Babatunde Fashola. She also chaired the committee that planned the NBA’s 2024 conference.
Today, she’s Co-Head of Litigation at Africa Law Practice NG & Company, one of Nigeria’s leading law firms.
Later this month in Port Harcourt, she will officially take the oath and begin her term. A new chapter for the NBA has started and this time, a woman is holding the pen.