BREAKING: Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya Elected 33rd NBA President, Becomes Association’s Second Female Leader
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, has been elected as the next President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), becoming only the second woman to lead the country’s largest body of legal practitioners.
Badejo-Okusanya emerged victorious after polling 12,317 votes in the association’s 2026 presidential election, which was conducted electronically over a 24-hour period from 7:35 a.m. on Saturday to 7:34 a.m. on Sunday.
She secured 47.18 per cent of the 26,106 valid ballots cast, defeating two other candidates to win the presidency.
The election result was announced after voting officially closed on Sunday morning.
Badejo-Okusanya was the only female among the three candidates contesting the NBA’s top office.
Her election comes just days after concerns were raised over the integrity of the poll following the detention of the Managing Director of the association’s election service provider by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
The Nigerian Bar Association had confirmed that the service provider’s managing director was released shortly after an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council (NEC), which resolved that the election would proceed as scheduled despite the incident.
The NBA condemned the detention, describing it as disturbing and capable of undermining confidence in the electoral process, while reaffirming its commitment to conducting a free, fair and credible election.
The association also called on authorities to respect its autonomy and avoid actions capable of interfering with its internal democratic processes.
Badejo-Okusanya will succeed the outgoing NBA President at the end of the current administration, taking over the leadership of an association that serves as the umbrella body for legal practitioners in Nigeria.
