NBA presidential candidate, Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, has protested the decision of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association to shift the 2026 NBA national election from July 20 to July 18, 2026, describing the move as unilateral and taken without proper consultation with candidates.
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Akinboro, a former General Secretary of the NBA and Life Bencher, also faulted the ECNBA guidelines for the presidential debate, saying the rules are biased and remove the essential features of a true debate.
In a letter dated July 4, 2026, addressed to the Chairman of the ECNBA, Akinboro said he only became aware of the notice changing the election date in the early hours of July 4. He said after checking his email, he found no communication from the committee and also noted that the information had not been posted on the WhatsApp group created for candidates.
According to him, he later contacted the ECNBA Chairman by telephone, who confirmed that the election date had been changed from July 20 to July 18 and that emails had been sent to that effect since July 3.
Akinboro said he informed the chairman that he did not receive the email. He recalled that at the stakeholders’ interactive meeting held on July 2, he had complained that he was not receiving crucial notices from the ECNBA and was only receiving less important ones.
He said the chairman suggested that the email address he supplied might be incorrect, but after their telephone conversation, he received the email communicating the change of election date at about 4:03pm on July 4, on the same email address earlier supplied.
The senior lawyer challenged the ECNBA’s claim that the change of date was made “further to deliberations” at the candidates’ meeting of July 2.
According to him, what happened at the meeting was that only one candidate suggested that the election should be held on a weekend. He said the suggestion was not deliberated upon or debated, and no resolution was reached.
He argued that the committee could not validly present the decision to change the election date as a product of the July 2 meeting.
Akinboro said a decision of such magnitude, which further limits the already short campaign period after the lifting of the campaign ban, should not have been taken unilaterally by the ECNBA without full consultation with candidates who had already scheduled programmes and activities for the remaining campaign period.
He added that if the ECNBA considered it more appropriate for the election to hold on a weekend, the committee should have shifted the election to the next weekend of July 25, 2026, instead of bringing it forward to July 18.
According to him, extending the election date would have been better because those who already knew of the July 20 date would simply learn that the election had been extended, rather than discovering on July 20 that the election had already been concluded two days earlier.
“It is on this note that I reject the change of election date which was done without proper consultation with the candidates,” he said.
Akinboro also criticised the ECNBA guidelines for the presidential debate, saying the provisions are in direct contrast to what a debate should be.
He cited Rule 15, which provides that candidates shall not use their presentation time to address, challenge, criticise or respond to any other candidate.
He also cited Rule 16, which bars candidates from interrupting, heckling or making verbal or non-verbal interjections during another candidate’s presentation, and Rule 30, which provides that presidential candidates shall not engage in direct exchanges or rebuttals with each other.
Akinboro said the combined effect of the provisions is to remove the core features of a debate, leaving only individual addresses by candidates.
He said the electorate is not only entitled to know the programmes and policies of each candidate, but should also be able to observe how firmly those policies are articulated, how convincingly they are defended and whether they can survive informed challenge.
According to him, a candidate whose proposals cannot withstand scrutiny from fellow candidates has not truly had those proposals tested before the electorate.
He said while reasonable limits may be imposed to avoid disorder, a total prohibition on rebuttal, response or engagement “silences intellectually stimulating engagement by participants.”
Akinboro also faulted Rule 29, which fixes the sequence of participation throughout all three stages of the presidential debate as Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN; Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN; and Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN.
He said established debating practice requires rotation of speaking order between rounds so that no participant permanently occupies the most advantageous or least advantageous position.
According to him, the absence of a rotational mechanism creates avoidable inequality and smacks of bias in favour of a candidate who has the advantage of responding to others.
He therefore called on the ECNBA to immediately reconsider its position and produce fair and balanced debate guidelines that would guarantee healthy and intellectually stimulating engagement for the benefit of the electorate.
Akinboro warned that anything short of that would amount to a sham and would leave him with no option but to opt out of the debate.
He further advised the ECNBA, if it needed assistance on how to conduct a fair debate, to contact the organisers of the NBA Lagos Branch Town Hall held on July 2, 2026.
The letter was copied to the President of the NBA, the Chairman of the NBA Board of Trustees and the Chairman of the Body of Benchers.
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