The National Executive Council of the Nigerian Bar Association has resolved that the Association’s 2026 National Officers and General Council of the Bar elections will proceed as scheduled on Saturday, July 18, 2026.
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The resolution was reached during an emergency virtual meeting held on Thursday, July 16, following extensive deliberations on the controversies and legal disputes surrounding the electoral process.
By reaffirming the existing timetable, NEC effectively rejected calls for the election to be postponed and confirmed the continued mandate of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association to conduct the poll.
The decision brings institutional clarity to the crisis, as the NBA leadership had consistently maintained that only NEC—not the Attorney-General of the Federation or any external body—could lawfully direct the postponement of its national election.
The emergency meeting was convened barely two days before the election, with the 2026 national poll listed as the sole substantive item on the agenda.
The meeting notice, issued by NBA General Secretary Dr Mobolaji Ojibara, restricted participation to statutory NEC members, including national officers, past presidents, past general secretaries, branch chairmen and secretaries, leaders of the Association’s sections and fora, and co-opted members.
NEC is the NBA’s highest decision-making organ between Annual General Meetings. Its resolution therefore confirmed that the election timetable approved and implemented by the ECNBA remained valid.
The Council called on all eligible lawyers to participate peacefully while upholding the democratic values, integrity, professional dignity and unity of the Association.
It also reaffirmed the NBA’s commitment to a credible, transparent and orderly transition of leadership conducted in accordance with its Constitution.
Controversy Over AGF’s Intervention
The emergency meeting followed the circulation of a document containing “directions and outcomes” attributed to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
The document reportedly accepted recommendations made by a three-member committee constituted to examine disputes surrounding the NBA election.
The committee was chaired by former NBA President Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, with former President Paul Usoro, SAN, and Prince Lanke Odogiyon as members.
Among the reported recommendations were the disbandment of the ECNBA, postponement of the July election, termination of the appointment of the electronic voting service provider, engagement of another service provider and establishment of a caretaker or oversight committee to manage the electoral process.
The document also reportedly proposed the incorporation of National Identification Numbers into the voter-authentication process and a review of the NBA Constitution’s universal voting system.
The NBA rejected the purported directives, maintaining that it was an independent professional organisation not subject to the control of the Attorney-General or any arm of government.
It argued that the AGF, whether acting as Chief Law Officer of the Federation or as a mediator in disputes involving members of the Association, lacked the constitutional power to dissolve the ECNBA or suspend an election approved by the NBA’s competent organs.
The ECNBA had earlier directed members to disregard the document purporting to suspend the election.
In a notice signed by its Chairman, Aham Ejelam, SAN, and Secretary, Ibrahim Aliyu Nassarawa, the committee maintained that it remained an independent electoral body established under the NBA Constitution 2015, as amended in 2025.
The committee said that, once constituted by NEC, it possessed the authority to supervise and manage the election unless otherwise directed by a competent NBA organ or court.
Ejelam also insisted that there was “no going back” on the July 18 election date, arguing that no individual could unilaterally dissolve the committee or demand the resignation of its members outside the mechanisms provided by the NBA Constitution.
NEC’s latest resolution has now supplied the institutional endorsement identified by both the NBA leadership and ECNBA as decisive.
The election was initially fixed for Monday, July 20, 2026, but was moved to Saturday, July 18, following consultations between the ECNBA, candidates and other stakeholders.
The committee said the weekend date was chosen to enable more eligible lawyers to participate without interference from regular professional commitments.
Under the revised timetable, electronic voting will take place on July 18, while the results are expected to be formally declared on Sunday, July 19.
The revised timetable superseded earlier schedules to the extent of any inconsistency.
A total of 82,213 lawyers across 139 NBA branches were listed as eligible to participate in the election.
The final voters’ register was published and frozen by the ECNBA, with the committee stating that no further additions, deletions or amendments would be accepted.
An additional 671 lawyers whose records showed that they paid their Bar Practising Fees before the deadline but did not indicate membership of any NBA branch were listed separately.
The ECNBA clarified that inclusion in that section did not automatically confer voting eligibility because membership of an NBA branch remained a constitutional requirement.
The election will be conducted electronically through a platform developed and managed by Mikrodigital Connect, the service provider appointed by the ECNBA.
The committee had also conducted voter-sensitisation exercises and dispatched trial authentication messages through registered telephone numbers and email addresses to test members’ access to the voting channels.
The NBA invited the European Union Delegation, United States Embassy, British High Commission, Yiaga Africa, Transition Monitoring Group and other domestic and international organisations to observe the election.
The Association said the observers would be allowed to monitor proceedings from the Central Election Control Room at the NBA National Secretariat in Abuja.
The control room is expected to coordinate technical operations, election management, result collation and observer accreditation.
The NBA maintained that independent observation would improve confidence in the credibility of the process and reinforce transparency within the legal professional.
The NEC meeting was also held amid reports that the managing director of the electronic voting service provider had allegedly been taken into custody by persons suspected to be State Security Service operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
A source alleged that the official’s laptop and mobile telephones were seized while he was travelling to Abuja.
However, neither the SSS nor the Federal Government had publicly confirmed the reported incident at the time the allegation emerged.
The development prompted fresh accusations of external interference, including a statement by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar alleging that government agencies were being deployed to frustrate the election.
Those allegations have not been independently established.
With NEC’s latest resolution, the Association has now directed that the electoral process continue as planned, subject to any binding order that may subsequently be issued by a court of competent jurisdiction.
Eligible lawyers are expected to cast their votes electronically on Saturday, July 18, to elect the next NBA President, other national officers and representatives of the Association in the General Council of the Bar.
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