Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, has maintained a commanding lead in the ongoing Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) national election for the office of president despite disruptions caused by a cyberattack and complaints over technical issues affecting the electronic voting process.
According to the real-time voters’ dashboard monitored at about 9:20 p.m., Badejo-Okusanya secured 11,206 votes, representing 46.62 per cent of the ballots cast in the presidential contest.
Her closest challenger, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe (SAN), polled 7,335 votes (30.51%), while Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro (SAN) garnered 5,498 votes (22.87%).
Out of 82,164 registered voters, 24,112 lawyers had cast their votes as of the latest update.
Earlier figures released at 6:00 p.m. showed that 21,665 members had participated in the election, representing a 26.37 per cent turnout. At the time, Badejo-Okusanya led with 9,930 votes (45.82%), followed by Akangbe with 6,708 votes (30.99%) and Akinboro with 5,021 votes (23.21%).
The voting exercise, originally scheduled to commence shortly after midnight, was delayed following a cyberattack on the NBA’s electronic voting platform.
Confirming the incident, the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) said the platform came under a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” intended to disrupt and undermine the election.
In a statement signed by ECNBA Chairman, Aham Ejelam (SAN), and Secretary, Ibrahim Aliyu Nassarawa, the committee said emergency security measures were immediately activated in collaboration with its cybersecurity team and Election Voting Service Provider (EVSP) to contain the attack and restore the platform.
The committee assured members that no votes were recorded during the disruption and that voting commenced only after the system had been fully secured. It added that the election remained under its supervision, with candidates, agents and observers monitoring proceedings from the designated election centre.
Beyond the presidential contest, NBA members are electing officers for several national positions, including the First, Second and Third Vice Presidents, General Secretary, Assistant General Secretary, Welfare Secretary, Assistant Welfare Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Secretary and Assistant Publicity Secretary, as well as representatives for the Eastern, Western and Northern zones.
Meanwhile, presidential candidate Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe (SAN) raised concerns over the conduct of the election, alleging widespread technical failures that prevented many lawyers from voting.
Akangbe said the election failed to begin at midnight as scheduled, with voting only commencing around 7:35 a.m. He alleged that many voters experienced problems receiving one-time passwords (OTPs), while others encountered broken voting links and website errors.
The senior lawyer disclosed that he was personally unable to cast his vote despite receiving multiple voting links from NBA officials.
According to him, several supporters from states including Plateau, Imo, Kogi and Benue also reported difficulties accessing the voting platform, while members of the 2025 graduating class were similarly affected.
Akangbe further alleged that the technical glitches had disenfranchised many eligible voters and claimed to possess evidence that some individuals were able to vote more than once during the exercise.
He said repeated efforts to reach an official in the NBA’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) department yielded no response, despite assurances from the NBA leadership that the issues would be addressed.
Describing the situation as voter suppression, Akangbe urged his supporters not to abandon the process, expressing confidence that the outcome could still change if all eligible members were eventually able to vote.
The final result of the NBA presidential election will be announced after the completion of electronic voting and the collation of results by the ECNBA.
