Akinboro Alleges Manipulation, Demands Forensic Audit of NBA Presidential Election

Olumuyiwa Akinboro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and candidate in the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election, has petitioned the association’s leadership and relevant authorities, alleging widespread irregularities in the conduct of the July 18, 2026 national officers’ election.

In a 19-page petition dated July 27, Akinboro urged the chairman of the Body of Benchers, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the General Council of the Bar, the NBA president, the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate the election and provide urgent redress.

The senior lawyer alleged that the election was characterised by institutional bias, lack of transparency in appointing election service providers, failure to implement agreed voter authentication measures and technical glitches that prevented thousands of eligible lawyers from voting.

Akinboro claimed the NBA leadership openly supported Oyinkansola Badejo-Okunsanya, who eventually won the election, alleging that the association’s official platforms and activities were used to promote her candidacy while other contestants were denied similar opportunities.

He further accused the ECNBA of abandoning an earlier agreement to use National Identification Numbers (NIN) and telephone numbers for voter authentication. Instead, he said the committee retained a system based on Supreme Court enrolment numbers and email-generated one-time passwords (OTPs), resulting in many lawyers being unable to receive the codes required to cast their votes.

According to Akinboro, following an alleged cyberattack on the election portal, the ECNBA migrated voting to another platform without informing candidates or conducting the integrity tests required under the NBA Constitution.

He also questioned the competence of the service providers engaged for the election, alleging that one lacked the experience needed to manage an electronic election of the NBA’s size.

The former NBA General Secretary argued that only 26,184 votes were cast out of 82,172 eligible voters, insisting that the number of lawyers allegedly disenfranchised could have significantly affected the outcome.

“The purported new portal did not pass the tests prescribed by the NBA Constitution and as such could not have hosted an election known to the NBA Constitution. In conclusion, there was no election,” he stated.

Akinboro called for an independent forensic audit of the electoral process, security investigations into the conduct of the election, publication of observers’ reports, reconstitution of the ECNBA and the conduct of a fresh poll.

The 2026 NBA presidential election had been preceded by several controversies, including litigation over the zoning of the presidency to the western axis and demands by another candidate, Lateef Akangbe, for the election to be suspended over alleged flaws in the electronic voting process.

Badejo-Okunsanya was declared winner after polling 12,317 votes, ahead of Akangbe, who secured 7,934 votes, while Akinboro finished third with 5,855 votes.