*Second female to lead the bar
Alex Enumah in Abuja
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, has emerged winner of the 2026 presidential election of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), making her the second woman to head the umbrella body of lawyers in the country.
She was declared winner of the election held between July 18 and 19, 2026, by the Chairman, Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), Aham Ejalam, SAN, on Sunday morning, few hours after the end of the polls and collation of results.
Badejo-Okusanya, according to the ECNBA, secured 12,317 (47.18 percent of total votes cast for the position of president) to emerge winner, while her closest rival, Mr Lateef Akangbe, SAN, polled 7,934 (30.39%) votes, and the consensus candidate of the Omo Egbe Amofin O’odua Are Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN polled 5,855 (22.43%) votes to come third.
According to the results, while 26,184 voted in the entire election, 26,106 voted for the presidential candidates out of a total of 82,172, registered voters.
With the declaration, Badejo-Okusanya has become the second female national president of the NBA, after Dame Priscilla Olabori Kuye, a notable Nigerian lawyer who served as the first female president of the NBA between 1991 to 1992.
Dame Kuye, who has been pushing for another female president of the bar is a life member of the Body of Benchers (BoB) and a former chairman, Human Rights Committee of the NBA.
Meanwhile, other elected national officers include Oghenero Okoro, who emerged as First Vice President with 11,024 votes; Afam Okeke, elected General Secretary with 8,478 votes; Aghogho Gladys, who won the position of Assistant General Secretary with 14,312 votes; and Chinelo Audrey Ofoegbunam, elected Welfare Secretary with 14,911 votes, among other successful candidates.
Details later.