By Joshua Nwachukwu[1]
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On 18 July, members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) went to the polls to elect the 33rd National Executive Committee. Unfortunately, what should have been a defining moment for our profession, has created controversy and has become an unfortunate demonstration of technical failure, poor planning, and administrative incompetence.
Out of 82,172 registered voters, only 26,184 lawyers were able to cast their votes.
Such an abysmally low turnout is not because of voter apathy, but a direct consequence of technological glitches, inadequate electoral preparation, and the gross mismanagement and incompetence of the process by the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA).
We should not accept the mediocre talking point that “no election is perfect”. No election is perfect, granted, but we either try to organise a new perfect election and when we don’t, the answer to imperfection is to run the process again properly, not to certify a sham as valid.
The voting portal crashed shortly after the election commenced, causing significant delays. Thousands of lawyers were unable to receive the OTP, required to authenticate and cast their votes. Others discovered that the voting platform was incompatible with certain web browsers.
A competent electoral committee should have anticipated all of this and prepared for them. It is inconceivable that in a nation where our financial institutions and network providers handle millions of OTP related transactions daily, that the electoral committee and their platform provider could not provide OTP for less than 85,000 lawyers?
I was one of those who could not vote despite repeated attempts and it is disheartening.
More troubling is the allegation by the two presidential candidates; Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe SAN and Akinboro Olumuyiwa SAN, that they too could not vote. Although, president elect, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN said she voted, her name cannot be seen in the list of members who voted.
This discrepancy alone should raise serious questions about the integrity of the list of members who voted.
Very importantly, if a presidential candidate could not vote in the very election in which he was contesting, how can anyone reasonably expect him/her to concede defeat or accept an olive branch from the declared winner?
Simply put, ko le work.
The support mechanisms established by the ECNBA proved equally ineffective. Telephone lines were either unreachable or unhelpful, while emails sent to support@ecnba.zohodesk.com remain unanswered till date.
Ironically, most of the candidates I supported were declared winners. Yet that does not change my position. An election cannot be judged solely by its outcome; it must also be judged by the integrity of its process. As Peter Obi rightly said, “If you must be referred to as ‘Your Excellency’, then the process through which you arrived at the office must be excellent”
Regardless of who benefited, it is difficult to argue that this election met the standards of a free, fair, transparent, and credible election.
The ECNBA should have had the humility and institutional integrity to acknowledge the obvious failures of the process, cancel the election, rectify the technical deficiencies, and conduct a fresh poll.
Instead, without offering a satisfactory explanation or apology for the numerous failures, it moved swiftly to announce the “Presentation of the Successful Candidates of the 2026 NBA National Officers Elections to the Bar,” brushing past every complaint raised.
It is particularly unfortunate that this historic election, which has produced the first elected female President of the NBA, may also be remembered as one of the most flawed elections in the Association’s history. That is a distinction neither she nor the profession deserves.
This issue transcends personalities and electoral victories. It is about the credibility of our profession.
Lawyers are often at the forefront of demanding electoral integrity from government institutions. We challenge flawed elections in court, criticize electoral commissions, and insist on transparency, accountability, and due process.
Yet when our own professional body fails to conduct an election involving fewer than 85,000 lawyers, we forfeit both the locus standi and moral authority to demand for electoral reform.
Even the NBA Port Harcourt branch election has descended into chaos, as if it took its cue from the national exercise. This further deepens concerns about the state of electoral governance within our Association.
Going forward, I think the NBA should not bother sending election observers to observe the elections in the country as we have shown we can’t put our house in order.
To further complicate matters, the NBA President, who has never hesitated to hold the Executive and Judiciary accountable for their failures, has remained noticeably restrained in addressing the obvious shortcomings of the ECNBA. Accountability loses its force when it is demanded only of others.
Pope Paul VI wisely observed:
“Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”
If we expect the nation to embrace electoral reforms, we must first demonstrate that we are prepared to uphold those same principles within our own Association.
To further explain out lack of moral authority, President Tinubu, in his congratulatory message to the President-elect, urged her to make “efforts to correct issues that arose during your election.” Read between the lines, and the message is unmistakable.
Keeping silent is not an option, history beckons, and I want to be counted among those who spoke up against this travesty.
I reiterate again, even though most of the candidates I supported emerged victorious, I cannot, in good conscience, remain silent about what was plainly a shambolic electoral process.
The President-elect campaigned on the mantra of BOLD leadership. She has also BOLDly stated that if a post-election audit proves that the election was manipulated in her favour, she will immediately resign.
While this is highly commendable, yet this assurance would have been largely unnecessary had the ECNBA simply discharged its responsibilities competently in the first place.
Whether or not a post-election audit, is conducted, I am hoping that our president elect’s boldness will not end with campaign slogans but will extend to confronting the uncomfortable truths surrounding this election.
True leadership is demonstrated not by defending a flawed process, but by having the courage to reform it.
The NBA deserves better. The legal profession deserves better. Nigeria deserves better.
[1] Nwachukwu is a lawyer and a writer, can be reached at nwachukwujo@gmail.com
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