NBA CRISIS: We have lost Faith in the Election, NBA President Should Resign Now for Supporting Badejo-Okusanya – NBA Presidential Aspirants, Akinboro, Akangbe Writes NBA Board

A major crisis is unfolding within the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) following a dramatic joint statement issued by two Senior Advocates of Nigeria and presidential aspirants in the NBA National Officers election scheduled in August 2026, Aare Muyiwa Akinboro, SAN, and Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, accusing the NBA President, Afam Osigwe, SAN of open bias and persistent partisan conduct ahead of the Association’s forthcoming national elections.

In a strongly worded letter addressed to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at NBA House in Abuja, the two SANs declared that they have lost all confidence in the President’s ability to superintend a free and fair election, alleging a sustained pattern of institutional partisanship in favour of fellow presidential aspirant, Oyinkasola Badejo-Okusanya.

The controversy, according to their statement, reached a tipping point at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Maiduguri, Borno State, on February 5, 2026. Both petitioners state that they were physically present when the President, responding to concerns raised by Mr. Adetunji Osho, SAN, about the open distribution of campaign materials at the NEC meeting, openly declared that he “cannot be neutral” because he has a voting right. He reportedly went further to defend his right to support any candidate of his choice and attempted to justify his position by drawing an analogy to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointing an INEC Chairman while intending to contest the 2027 presidential election.

According to the two aspirants, the statement was not made privately or in jest. It was delivered openly on the NEC floor before numerous witnesses and with full awareness of its implications. They insist that the President did not merely admit bias but defended and normalised it under the guise of democratic rights, despite what they describe as the constitutional duty of neutrality attached to his office.

They argue that the Maiduguri admission did not occur in isolation but is the culmination of months of alleged partisan conduct. The statement traces the pattern back to the NBA Annual General Conference (AGC) 2025 in Enugu, where they claim the President first publicly manifested his alignment. During the official Health Walk organised as part of the Conference programme, the President allegedly permitted only one presidential aspirant — Oyinkasola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN — to distribute campaign-branded face caps and stickers to lawyers. No similar opportunity was extended to other aspirants.

The statement further alleges that at the official “Unbarred Party,” also organised under NBA auspices during the AGC, a large projection screen prominently displayed an advertisement featuring Badejo-Okusanya. According to the petitioners, what should have remained institutional events of the Association were effectively converted into campaign platforms for a preferred aspirant, marking the beginning of what they describe as a visible alignment between the office of the President and a particular candidate.

Beyond the use of official platforms, the two SANs allege that the President personally engaged in direct lobbying of lawyers, including Senior Advocates of Nigeria, urging them to support Badejo-Okusanya. They state that several SANs are prepared to testify that they received such calls. The statement also references various NBA branch activities across the country where the President allegedly leveraged the authority of his office to canvass support, including at the recent Law Week of the NBA Yola Branch.

According to them, this conduct transcends private political preference and amounts to active campaigning by a sitting President during an ongoing electoral process over which he exercises institutional authority. They further allege that the machinery of the NBA itself has been deployed in support of the same candidate. The joint statement claims that National Secretariat staff were used to distribute umbrellas and face caps bearing the insignia of Badejo-Okusanya across multiple branches. If accurate, they argue, such actions would constitute a grave abuse of institutional resources funded by members of the Association.

The petitioners also contend that organs of the NBA, including committees and administrative structures operating under presidential supervision, have been instructed or subtly guided to organise programmes in a manner calculated to project and favour the same aspirant. They warn that when the institutional framework of the Association is perceived to be mobilised in favour of one candidate, the electoral playing field becomes irreparably distorted.

The statement additionally points to the unilateral annulment of elections within the Section on Public Interest and Development Law, NBA-SPIDEL, as part of what they describe as a troubling pattern. According to them, the SPIDEL electoral process had reached an advanced stage, with some candidates reported to have emerged unopposed, before it was abruptly annulled and replaced with a caretaker committee. They argue that this development damaged confidence in internal democracy within the NBA.

Expressing serious concern about the independence of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), the two SANs insist that the President’s open admission of bias, sustained partisan activities, direct lobbying, and alleged deployment of institutional resources have eroded confidence in the integrity of the electoral process. They reject the President’s analogy to Nigeria’s electoral structure, maintaining that the NBA President is not a distant appointing authority but the head of the Association under whose watch the ECNBA is constituted and the electoral process conducted.

“No one disputes his right to vote,” they stated. “The issue is institutional neutrality. He cannot be both partisan advocate and overseer of the electoral environment.”

Consequently, they have called on the Board of Trustees to intervene urgently and decisively. Their demands include the immediate resignation of Afam Osigwe, SAN, as President of the NBA; the immediate reconstitution of the ECNBA with safeguards guaranteeing independence, transparency and neutrality; and the establishment of an independent election oversight mechanism composed of respected past Presidents and elders of unquestioned integrity to ensure that the forthcoming elections reflect the true will of the membership.

Copies of the letter were also sent to the Chairman of the Body of Benchers, the NBA President, all past Presidents of the Association, and all members of the National Executive Council.

Declaring that the NBA cannot credibly demand fairness and justice in society while tolerating conduct that undermines fairness within its own ranks, the two SANs warned that the institutional damage is significant and that the time for corrective action is now. With the allegations now public and tensions rising within the Bar, all eyes are on the Board of Trustees as the Association approaches what may become one of the most contentious elections in its recent history.