NBA President‑Elect Badejo‑Okusanya (SAN) Pledges Immediate Resignation if Post‑Election Audit Reveals Manipulation

President‑elect of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Oyinkansola Badejo‑Okusanya, SAN, has publicly declared that she will resign without hesitation if an independent post‑election audit establishes that she benefited from any form of manipulation in the July 18 NBA presidential election.

Badejo‑Okusanya, who emerged as the 33rd President of the NBA and the first woman elected through universal suffrage, made the commitment while addressing allegations of rigging raised by some of her opponents.

Speaking on TVC, she emphasized that transparency and credibility of the Bar’s electoral process are paramount, noting: “If there was any indication that the process that brought me to office was flawed, I would resign immediately.” She further disclosed plans to subject the election to an independent audit and pledged to champion electoral reforms within the Association.

The Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) had declared her winner with 12,317 votes, ahead of Lateef Akangbe, SAN (7,934 votes), and Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN (5,855 votes), out of 26,184 electronic ballots cast—a 36% turnout from 82,172 registered voters.

Badejo‑Okusanya revealed efforts to reconcile with her opponents in the interest of unity, though these overtures have so far been rebuffed. According to her, she personally visited one of the candidates at his office but was politely asked to leave, while another did not return her call. She stressed her commitment to magnanimity, noting that her victory was the product of hard work and divine providence.

She also acknowledged technical challenges during the election, including a cyberattack that crippled the initial voting platform, necessitating the rapid deployment of a new system. She explained that following concerns raised by contestants, the Electoral Committee had upgraded the voting system to include telephone numbers for one-time passwords (OTPs), but the platform was subsequently attacked, forcing service providers to develop an entirely new system within hours.

In a surprising revelation, the president-elect said she may have been among those disenfranchised, as her name did not appear on the final voters’ list despite successfully casting her vote.

“I actually voted. I pressed submit. It was only when my co-opponents said I wasn’t able to vote that I checked and didn’t find my name on the voters’ list,” she said.

Defending the integrity of the exercise, Badejo-Okusanya argued that despite glitches, she maintained that the process was under unprecedented scrutiny, making manipulation highly unlikely. She dismissed claims of vote dumping, explaining that results were uploaded in real time and monitored by lawyers nationwide.

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