Tight Contest in NBA Presidential Election Following Resumption of Voting

The race to become the next President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is currently tightly contested after voting resumed on Saturday following an earlier delay caused by a cyberattack on the association’s electronic voting platform.

Voting commenced at 7:35 a.m. on Saturday after the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) restored its electronic voting system and introduced additional security measures to protect the integrity of the election.

The poll had originally been scheduled to begin at 12:00 a.m. but was delayed after the committee said the platform came under a coordinated cyberattack.

Early results released on the voting dashboard show a closely fought three-way contest among the presidential candidates, with none establishing a commanding lead as lawyers across the country continue to cast their votes.

At the time of filing this report, a total of 6,442 votes had been recorded in the presidential election. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya (SAN) was leading the race with 2,592 votes, representing 40.24 per cent of the ballots counted.

She was followed by Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe (SAN), who had secured 2,172 votes, accounting for 33.72 per cent of the total votes cast.

Olumuyiwa Akinboro (SAN) occupied the third position with 1,678 votes, representing 26.05 per cent.

Although Badejo-Okusanya maintained the lead, the figures indicated a highly competitive contest, with thousands of votes still expected to be cast before the close of polling. The election remains too close to call as voting continues.

Announcing the resumption of the election, the ECNBA apologised to candidates, agents, consultants, observers and eligible voters for the earlier disruption, assuring members that the technical issues had been resolved.

According to the committee, voting commenced at exactly 7:35 a.m. on Saturday, July 18, and will remain open for 24 hours from the official commencement time.

“As part of heightened security measures introduced to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process, the voting portal has been migrated to a new secured domain,” the committee said.

The ECNBA announced that the official voting portal had been moved to a new secure address and warned lawyers to use only the designated platform to cast their votes. It cautioned members to disregard any other website, link or communication directing voters elsewhere.

“The official voting portal should be used exclusively to cast votes. Voting will remain open for exactly 24 hours from the commencement time, after which no votes will be accepted,” the committee stated.

The committee thanked candidates, agents, consultants, election observers and eligible voters for their patience and understanding during the delay, while reaffirming its commitment to conducting “a free, fair, and credible electoral process.”

The election resumed hours after the ECNBA announced that the electronic voting platform had suffered what it described as a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” aimed at disrupting and undermining the 2026 NBA National Elections.

The committee had explained that its cybersecurity team and the Election Voting Service Provider activated emergency security protocols to neutralise the threat and restore the platform before voting eventually commenced.

This year’s NBA presidential election has been one of the association’s most closely watched contests, having been preceded by months of legal disputes, disagreements over zoning, allegations of bias, and claims of external interference before lawyers finally began voting on Saturday.