The High Court of Justice, Oyo State, sitting in Ibadan, has issued an interim injunction restraining members of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) from conducting the 2026 National Officers’ Election.
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Justice G.A. Opayinka delivered the ruling in Suit No: I/221/2026, Court No. 16, on Wednesday following an ex parte motion filed by four legal practitioners — Ibrahim Lawal, Esq., Raymond Oki, Esq., Omotan Olusola Ogunmodede, Esq., and Chief Gabriel Ojo Adekunle Ijalana, Esq.
The court granted two significant restraining orders:
First, the 5th to 9th defendants — Aham Ejelam, SAN; Ibrahim Aliyu Nassarawa, Esq.; Muhamad M. Nuhu, Esq.; Uju Okafor, Esq.; and Ume Maduka, Esq. — are barred from parading or holding themselves out as chairman, secretary, or members of the ECNBA. They are also prohibited from performing, undertaking, or participating in any act, step, or process in furtherance of the 2026 NBA National Officers’ Election.
Second, the NBA President, Mazi Afam Josiah Osigwe, SAN (2nd defendant), is restrained from taking any steps toward constituting or composing the Electoral Committee, and from participating in, supervising, influencing, or otherwise interfering with the conduct of the election.
The application, supported by an affidavit sworn by Ibrahim Lawal at the High Court Registry, Ibadan, was filed on February 19, 2026. Counsel Tunji Ogunrinde, SAN, and R.O. Solahudeen, Esq., appeared for the claimants and moved the application on the same day.
The interim orders remain in force pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction. The court has adjourned the matter to March 12, 2026 for the substantive hearing.
Other respondents in the suit include the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association, the Body of Benchers, and the Attorney General of the Federation in his capacity as Chairman of the General Council of the Bar.
Enrolled order Ibrahim Lawal V NBAThe ruling has effectively put the NBA’s electoral process on hold, raising questions about the timeline for the association’s upcoming leadership transition.
The court action comes weeks after two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Aare Muyiwa Akinboro, SAN and Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, wrote a formal letter to the Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association demanding the immediate resignation of NBA President Afam Osigwe, SAN, over what they described as an open admission of bias and persistent partisan conduct during the ongoing electoral process of the Association.
The letter, dated February 15, 2026 and received by Olisa Agbakoba Legal on February 17, 2026, was addressed to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and copied to the Chairman of the Body of Benchers, the NBA President himself, all Past Presidents of the Association, and all members of the National Executive Council.
The two Senior Advocates anchored their demands on a statement made by the NBA President at the National Executive Council meeting held in Maiduguri, Borno State, on February 5, 2026.
According to the letter, the President, responding to concerns raised by Mr. Adetunji Osho, SAN, regarding the open distribution of campaign materials at the NEC meeting, declared that he “cannot be neutral” because he has a voting right. He went further to defend his right to support any candidate of his choice and sought to justify his position by analogy to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointing an INEC Chairman whilst intending to contest the 2027 presidential election.
“This statement was not made privately. It was not made in jest. It was made openly, on the floor of the National Executive Council, before numerous witnesses, with full consciousness of its implications. The President did not merely admit bias. He defended it. He wrapped it in the language of democratic rights and attempted to normalise conduct that is fundamentally incompatible with his constitutional duties as President of the Association,” the letter stated.
The two SANs stated that the Maiduguri admission did not arise in a vacuum but is the culmination of a pattern of partisan conduct that began months earlier and has steadily intensified.
According to the letter, the partisan activities of the President were first publicly manifested at the NBA Annual General Conference in Enugu in 2025. During the official Health Walk organised as part of the Conference programme, the President used the platform of the NBA and the authority of his office to permit only one presidential aspirant to distribute campaign-branded face caps and stickers to lawyers participating in the Health Walk. No similar opportunity was extended to other aspirants.
The letter further alleges that during the official “Unbarred Party” at the same AGC, a large projection screen displayed a prominent advertisement featuring a large image of the same aspirant.
Beyond the use of institutional platforms, the letter alleges that the President has reportedly engaged in direct lobbying of members of the Bar, including Senior Advocates of Nigeria, urging them to vote for and support the same aspirant to the exclusion of others.
The letter states that there are Senior Advocates of Nigeria prepared to testify to the President’s personal calls to lawyers canvassing support for a particular aspirant.
The most recent instance of such direct lobbying, according to the letter, occurred at the just-concluded Law Week of the NBA Yola Branch, where the President used his presence and platform to canvass support for that aspirant.
The letter raises more troubling allegations about the active deployment of the NBA machinery in support of the same candidate. The two SANs state that they have credible information that National Secretariat staff have been used to distribute campaign materials to lawyers across various branches of the Association.
“The use of the National Secretariat funded by the membership of the Association to distribute campaign materials for a particular aspirant represents a grave abuse of institutional resources and a fundamental breach of neutrality,” the letter states.
The letter also raises concerns about the unilateral annulment of the NBA-SPIDEL elections by the President. According to the SANs, the Section on Public Interest and Development Law had commenced an electoral process that was at an advanced stage, with some candidates reported to have emerged unopposed. That process was abruptly annulled by the President, and a caretaker committee was imposed to run the affairs of SPIDEL for the next two years.
The letter states that Egbe Amofin Oodua likened this development to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
In light of the foregoing, Akinboro and Akangbe called on the Board of Trustees to intervene urgently and decisively, making four specific demands:
- They called on Afam Osigwe, SAN, to resign immediately as President of the Nigerian Bar Association, stating that having openly declared that he cannot be neutral and having engaged in sustained partisan conduct, he has forfeited the moral authority required to continue in office during an election season.
- They called for the immediate reconstitution of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, with clear safeguards guaranteeing independence, transparency, and neutrality.
- They called for the establishment of an independent election oversight mechanism, free from the influence of the President or any partisan interests.
- They called on the Board of Trustees to use their good offices to ensure that the forthcoming NBA elections are conducted under conditions that guarantee credibility, transparency, and fairness.
The SANs rejected the President’s analogy comparing himself to the President of Nigeria appointing an INEC Chairman, stating: “The NBA President is not a distant appointing authority. He is the head of the Association under whose watch the ECNBA is constituted and under whose leadership the electoral process is conducted. The proximity, influence, and institutional control he wields are direct and substantial.”
“No one disputes his right to vote. The issue is institutional neutrality. He cannot be both partisan advocate and overseer of the electoral environment,” the letter stated.
The letter concludes with a stark warning: “The NBA cannot credibly demand fairness and justice in society while tolerating conduct that undermines fairness within its own ranks.”
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