NBA invites DSS, ICPC to monitor national officers’ elections
…flays arrest of service provider, seizure of laptop
By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has reaffirmed its resolve to proceed with its 2026 national officers’ election on Saturday.
As part of its plans to ensure transparency in the process, the legal body, through its outgoing President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, invited the Department of State Services (DSS), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to monitor the election, which will be conducted electronically.
Dismissing the insinuation that the electoral system was skewed in favour of a particular presidential candidate, Osigwe, SAN, said the legal body had opened its doors to scrutiny, adding that foreign organisations wishing to observe the election had been invited.
According to the NBA President, seven members of the Electoral Committee were selected through a transparent procedure that was ratified by the association’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
However, he decried an attempt to scuttle the electoral process through litigation and unsubstantiated allegations, which he said could cause reputational damage to the association.
It will be recalled that the NBA had zoned the presidential seat in the election to the Western region, comprising Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti, Edo, and Delta States.
Following the zoning arrangement, the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) cleared three aspirants: Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, who is of the Abuja Branch and was called to the Bar in 1991; Ms. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okunsanya, SAN (Lagos Branch, 2002), who is the only female candidate in recent times; and Mr. Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN (Lagos Branch, 2003), for the presidential poll.
However, the Egbe Amofin O’odua, a body of lawyers of Yoruba extraction, pushed for the recognition of Aare Akinboro, SAN, as the region’s sole candidate for the election.
Following the NBA’s insistence on allowing all candidates to contest the election, Egbe Amofin O’odua dragged the association to court to seek the disqualification of all ECNBA members.
On the strength of the suit marked I/205/2026, Justice Y. S. Adekunle of an Oyo State High Court, on February 24, granted an interim injunction barring the NBA from recognising or processing nominations outside the Yoruba lawyers’ consensus candidate arrangement for the presidency.
Likewise, Justice G. A. Opayinka of the same court issued an interim injunction that initially halted all steps toward conducting the 2026 NBA elections.
The suit marked I/221/2026 was filed by four aggrieved lawyers: Ibrahim Lawal, Raymond Oki, Omotan Olusola Ogunmodede, and Chief Gabriel Ojo Adekunle Ijalana.
Although the Court of Appeal had since vacated all the restraining orders, Osigwe, SAN, who spoke to newsmen on Friday, lamented that the litigation was meant to derail the democratic process the association adopted to ensure that the election is free, fair, and credible.
He said: “We don’t need to be in court, but the unfortunate thing was that even before the electoral committee was constituted, some persons went about saying the election will be rigged.
“All the previous elections that were challenged in court with such allegations were all dismissed, yet a lawyer will say that the NBA election will be rigged.
“It is not good practice in the legal profession for any person to state facts which he knows not to be true.
“Lawyers should be careful with the words they use. What people have done is to try to create a crisis where there is none.
“The election is supposed to take place from midnight, but some people kept pushing for postponement.
“We had to call an emergency NEC meeting because people kept calling my name as if I were the problem. So I felt the NEC should discuss the issues and decide. After the meeting, it was agreed that the election should go on as scheduled.
“Unfortunately, in the build-up to it, one of our service providers was arrested, but he has been released. We don’t know what may still happen next.
“We hope that there will be no further arrests or interference with the electoral process. We are committed to holding a free and fair election,” Osigwe, SAN, stated.
Declaring that the ECNBA operates independently, outside the influence of the association’s leadership, Osigwe, SAN, added that the election would involve a verification process that will utilise the enrollment number of every lawyer who votes.
He said the system was such that an OTP would be sent to the phone numbers of electorates after email address verification had been done, adding that through this process, their identities would be confirmed via the National Identification Number (NIN).
He said the NBA was only opposed to the recommendation that the election be routed through the online portal of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
“Inasmuch as we are all for transparency, we want a process that is fair to all and does not place an uneven burden on people.
“We want a free and fair election, and to show that the allegations against us with regard to the election are mere politics,” the NBA President added.
He said the association will critically evaluate why a laptop belonging to one of the service providers was seized by the DSS, which he said raised questions pertaining to the election.
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