Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, has said he has lost faith in the Nigerian Bar Association as a professional association of lawyers, following the conduct of the just-concluded 2026 NBA National Elections.
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In a strongly worded statement shared on his X handle, Okutepa alleged that credibility, objectivity, honesty and integrity had departed from the affairs, politics and administration of the NBA.
According to him, the Association is now populated, except for a few members, by lawyers who engage in mob actions and public commentary, while refusing to acknowledge what he described as glaring wrongs within the NBA.
He said what annoyed him most was the alleged hypocrisy of some vocal legal practitioners who regularly criticise government institutions, including the Independent National Electoral Commission, for violating due process, but have failed to condemn similar issues in the NBA election process.
Okutepa said Nigerian lawyers should be careful in criticising due process violations in society when, according to him, the affairs of the NBA itself are not transparent.
“The most annoying thing to me is the hypocrisy of some of the most vocal legal practitioners who see wrongs and complain of wrongdoing on daily basis against decisions and actions of government institutions, which decisions and actions are always taken and/or done in breach of due process, including decisions of INEC, but did not see anything wrong with the processes of the just concluded NBA coronation,” he said.
The senior lawyer alleged that many lawyers failed to see what he described as incompetence, illegality in the composition of the ECNBA, and lack of independence of the electoral committee.
He further alleged that the ECNBA was “teleguided” to produce a predetermined outcome, adding that the development was unfortunate for the legal profession.
Okutepa also claimed that lawyers who did not vote were far more than those who were said to have voted, and alleged that the processes earlier agreed upon were abandoned in favour of a system designed to produce the outcome preferred by what he called “cabals.”
He said the legal profession would suffer from the development, while expressing disappointment in those who, according to him, saw nothing wrong with the processes that culminated in what he repeatedly described as a “coronation.”
“For me, I have also lost faith in the honesty and integrity of those who were very critical and threatened fire and brimstone over the glitch in the INEC viewing portal then. These same sets of lawyers are now excusing the glitch in the NBA portal that clearly showed incompetence and/or a predetermined system to favour their coronated president,” he added.
Okutepa said the NBA election had opened his eyes to what he described as the hollowness and shallowness of some lawyers who often pontificate and criticise politicians.
He maintained that the credibility of any election is determined by the credibility of the processes leading to it.
According to him, every stage of the 2026 NBA election process was allegedly stage-managed and biased to produce what he called a “sham outcome.”
“In this year’s NBA election, every stage of the processes leading to the sham coronation was stage-managed and biased to produce the sham outcome in the just coronation by the kingmakers at NBA House. So sad,” he said.
Okutepa’s comments come amid continuing reactions to the NBA election, including complaints over low turnout, portal glitches, OTP challenges, alleged cyberattack on the voting platform and calls by some candidates and lawyers for a post-election audit of the process.
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