Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, has strengthened her lead in the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election as vote counting continues, moving closer to becoming the association’s first elected female president.
The latest figures released on Saturday through the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association’s election portal showed that she maintained a comfortable advantage over the other contenders.
As of 7:30 p.m., Badejo-Okusanya had secured 10,554 votes, accounting for 46.16 per cent of the ballots counted. Her closest challenger, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe (SAN), had polled 7,020 votes, while Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro (SAN) followed with 5,289 votes.
The results indicated that 22,863 votes had been counted at that stage, leaving Badejo-Okusanya with a lead of more than 3,500 votes over Akangbe. Earlier updates released at 11:33 a.m. had already placed her in front with 4,860 votes, ahead of Akangbe’s 3,851 votes and Akinboro’s 2,924 votes. The latest figures showed that her advantage continued to grow as more ballots were processed.
Although the final result had not been officially declared at the time of reporting, the ongoing tally suggested that Badejo-Okusanya remained the clear front-runner to succeed the current NBA President, Afam Osigwe (SAN).
The election followed weeks of controversy over the conduct of the poll. Some presidential candidates and members of the legal community had raised concerns about the credibility of the process, calling for a postponement of the election, stricter voter verification measures and greater transparency.
The NBA leadership denied the allegations, insisting that the Electoral Committee operated independently and was solely responsible for managing the election.
A day before the election, NBA President Afam Osigwe dismissed claims that he was attempting to influence the outcome or support any particular candidate. He maintained that the Electoral Committee carried out its duties without interference and said previous allegations of election manipulation within the association had never been proven in court.
Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Deji Adeyanju commended the conduct of the electronic voting process after casting his vote. He said the registration, verification and voting stages were completed within a few minutes and described the system as efficient.
He also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to study the NBA’s electronic voting model, saying it demonstrated that secure digital elections could be successfully conducted in Nigeria with the right technology and verification process.