Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) is on course to become the second female president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) after taking a commanding lead as voting in the association’s national election closed.
Results displayed on the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) live dashboard showed Badejo-Okusanya polling 12,317 votes (47.18%), ahead of Lateef Akangbe with 7,934 votes (30.39%) and Olumuyiwa Akinboro with 5,855 votes (22.43%).
A total of 26,106 votes were cast from 82,172 registered voters, representing a 31.86 per cent voter turnout. Although voting has ended, the ECNBA is yet to officially declare the result.
If confirmed as winner, Badejo-Okusanya will become only the second woman to lead the NBA, following Priscilla Olabori Kuye, who served as the association’s president between 1991 and 1992.
The election was preceded by controversies, including legal disputes, calls for its postponement and complaints over technical glitches. Akangbe had demanded the suspension of the poll, alleging that the electronic voting portal malfunctioned, OTPs were sent through email instead of SMS, and the presidential ballot displayed only one candidate’s photograph. He argued that the issues undermined the credibility of the election.