By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) appears poised to proceed with its national elections, despite the legal hurdles and internal disputes that had threatened to derail the process.

As a mark of its preparedness, the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA), on June 18, released a detailed list of legal practitioners cleared to contest the poll scheduled for July 20.

The publication contained the curriculum vitae, manifestoes, and approved campaign materials of all candidates who submitted the requested documents before the deadline expired on June 6.

According to information made available by the ECNBA, a total of 35 candidates were cleared to contest various national offices in the association.

While three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) were cleared to vie for the NBA Presidency, two candidates qualified for 1st Vice President, one candidate qualified for 3rd Vice President, and five lawyers were cleared to contest the General Secretary position.

Likewise, three candidates got the nod to vie for Assistant General Secretary; three for Welfare Secretary; and three for Assistant Publicity Secretary; while the positions of Treasurer and Publicity Secretary each had a sole candidate.

Among those seeking to be elected as representatives of the General Council of the Bar for the various zones, five lawyers were cleared to contest the Eastern zone election, two for the Western zone, and five to represent the Northern zone.

Section 10(1) of the NBA Constitution 2015 (as amended in 2025) establishes the ECNBA as an independent body responsible for conducting elections to national offices of the association and for NBA representatives to the General Council of the Bar.

It will be recalled that, with about nine months remaining in his tenure, the incumbent President of the NBA, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, activated the process for selecting the association’s next leadership.

At the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Edo State on November 20, 2025, a five-member ECNBA was approved to conduct the 2026 elections.

An SAN, Mr. Aham Ejelam, was appointed Chairman to superintend the ECNBA, while Ibrahim Aliyu Nasarawa was approved to serve as Secretary.

The other members of the Committee are Muhammad M. Nuhu, Uju Okafor, and Ume Maduka.
The NBA President had enthused that the selection of members of the committee reflected the association’s commitment to transparency, integrity, and professionalism in its electoral processes.

As acknowledged by the ECNBA, the presidential aspirants are: Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, of the Abuja Branch, called to the Bar in 1991; Ms. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okunsanya, SAN (Lagos Branch, 2002), the only female candidate in recent times; and Mr. Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN (Lagos Branch, 2003).
The 2026 NBA presidency is zoned to the Western axis of the country.

Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti, Edo, and Delta States constitute the Western Zone of the NBA.
The NBA Constitution establishes a universal suffrage system conducted through electronic voting, with the electorate comprising lawyers who have paid their practising fees and branch dues.

With the process for the election already set in motion, the association found itself at a crossroads following internal wrangling that threw up allegations of bias against the current national leadership of the body.

At the root of the misgivings was a reported consensus deal, which precipitated legal actions that threatened the conduct of the elections.

The association had embraced a power rotation formula to address instability, hegemony, marginalisation, and domination by one segment or region over others.

The zoning arrangement was intended to promote fairness in NBA leadership allocation and foster political stability within the organisation.

Following a perceived attempt to violate a deal that reportedly saw the emergence of a consensus presidential candidate for the Western zone, the Incorporated Trustees of Egbe Amofin O’odua took the NBA to court.

Specifically, Egbe Amofin O’odua, an association of lawyers of Yoruba extraction, insisted that the NBA must adopt one of the presidential aspirants, Aare Akinboro, SAN, as the sole candidate for the election, having declared him its consensus candidate for the Western Zone — whose turn it is to produce the next NBA President.

As a result of the suit marked I/205/2026, Justice Y. S. Adekunle of the 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.

They sought to restrain the NBA leadership and ECNBA members from parading themselves as officials or taking any further action toward the election, pending the hearing of their motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction.

The defendants in the matter included NBA President Osigwe, SAN; the Incorporated Trustees of the NBA; the Body of Benchers; the Attorney-General of the Federation (as Chairman of the General Council of the Bar); and several senior lawyers.

Justice Opayinka’s order restrained the NBA President and other defendants from constituting, supervising, or interfering in any way with the ECNBA or the election process.

Even though the Yoruba regional power bloc threw its weight behind Akinboro, SAN, the other two aspirants, Badejo-Okunsanya, SAN, and Akangbe, SAN, who are equally from the zone, insisted on pursuing their presidential ambitions.

Meanwhile, notwithstanding the legal challenges, the ECNBA did not relent on its mandate, as it continued to engage with the candidates, the electorate, and the general public. It has also made available for public assessment the profiles and manifestos of all the candidates.

In the 2026 NBA National Elections Magazine it published, the Ejelam-led electoral committee reaffirmed its commitment to a free, fair, and transparent electoral process.

Remarkably, the welfare of lawyers dominated most of the manifestos.

With over 140,000 lawyers on its roll across 128 active branches spanning Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), all eyes will be on the NBA — widely regarded as the largest Bar in Africa — as it elects those who will steer its national affairs until 2028.

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