How Badejo-Okusanya won NBA presidency, becomes second female president in 66 years

By Johnson Arua

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, has emerged as the President-elect of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), defeating two male contenders to become the second woman to lead the association in its 66-year history.

Badejo-Okusanya secured 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the 26,106 valid votes cast in the presidential election conducted through a 24-hour electronic voting process that commenced at 7:35 a.m. on Saturday and ended at 7:34 a.m. on Sunday.

Her closest rival, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, polled 7,934 votes (30.39 per cent), while Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, garnered 5,855 votes (22.43 per cent), according to the final tally displayed on the live results dashboard maintained by the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA).

Her election marks a historic milestone as she will become the 33rd President of the NBA and the first woman to occupy the office since Priscilla Kuye, who served as the association's president between 1991 and 1992.

The NBA is expected to inaugurate its newly elected national officers during its Annual General Conference scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, from August 21 to 28, where the outgoing President, Afam Osigwe, will formally hand over to the new leadership.

The election, however, was fraught with controversy and recorded a relatively low voter turnout. Of the 82,172 registered voters, only 26,184 participated, representing a 31.86 per cent turnout, significantly lower than the over 40,000 lawyers who voted in the 2024 election.

Voting, initially scheduled to begin at midnight on Saturday, was delayed for more than seven hours. The ECNBA attributed the delay to a "deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack" on the electronic voting platform by external actors.

The poll also attracted criticism over concerns about the transparency of the electoral process, the credibility of the voter register and the composition of the ECNBA. Calls for a postponement persisted until days before the election, despite the Court of Appeal overturning an earlier order restraining the conduct of the poll.

Badejo-Okusanya was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2002 after earning a law degree from the University of Lagos, where she had earlier obtained a bachelor's degree in English. She was elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in September 2025.

She previously served as Senior Special Assistant on Justice Sector Reform to former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, and has held several leadership positions within the NBA, including Chair of the 2024 Annual General Conference Planning Committee.

She is currently a founding partner of Africa Law Practice NG & Company and co-heads the firm's Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice.