The High Court of Justice sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Thursday adjourned further proceedings in a suit challenging the composition of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association ahead of the Association’s 2026 national officers’ election, leaving the NBA’s electoral process effectively frozen under existing restraining orders.
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The case, presided over by Justice G. A. Opayinka at the Ibadan Judicial Division, came up for the hearing of a Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction dated February 19, 2026. Following proceedings, the matter was adjourned to April 15, 2026, for a report of service and hearing of pending applications, including a substantive application for interlocutory injunction to restrain the Electoral Committee from taking further steps towards the election.
Senior Advocate of Nigeria Yomi Aliyu SAN appeared for the claimants, leading a team of five other Senior Advocates and several lawyers. Abdul Mohammed represented the second defendant, NBA President Afam Osigwe SAN, while Senior Advocate Musibau Adetunbi appeared for the Nigerian Bar Association. The 5th to 9th defendants were not represented in court.
The suit, marked I/221/2026, was instituted by four Branch Chairmen of the NBA — Ibrahim Lawal Esq., Raymond Oki Esq., Omotan Olusola Ogunmodede Esq., and Chief Gabriel Ojo Adekunle Ijalana Esq. — challenging the composition of the Electoral Committee.
Justice Opayinka had earlier granted an interim injunction restraining five individuals — Aham Ejelam SAN, Ibrahim Aliyu Nasarawa Esq., Muhamad M. Nuhu Esq., Uju Okafor Esq., and Ume Maduka Esq. — from parading themselves as Chairman, Secretary, or members of the Electoral Committee or participating in any process connected with the conduct of the 2026 NBA national officers’ election.
The interim order also restrained NBA President Osigwe from taking further steps toward the constitution or composition of the Electoral Committee or interfering with the conduct of the election pending the determination of the motion on notice.
These restraining orders remain in force as the matter has now been adjourned to April 15, effectively putting the NBA’s entire electoral calendar on hold and raising serious questions about whether the Association can conduct its leadership transition within the expected timeframe.
The court action comes in the wake of a formal letter written by two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Aare Muyiwa Akinboro SAN and Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe SAN, to the Board of Trustees of the NBA on February 15, 2026, demanding the immediate resignation of President Osigwe over what they described as an open admission of bias and persistent partisan conduct during the ongoing electoral process.
The two SANs 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 Adetunji Osho SAN about the open distribution of campaign materials at the NEC meeting, declared that he “cannot be neutral” because he has a voting right. He reportedly went further to defend his right to support any candidate of his choice, drawing an analogy to President Bola Tinubu appointing an INEC Chairman while intending to contest the 2027 presidential election.
The letter described this statement as a conscious and deliberate admission of bias that is fundamentally incompatible with the President’s constitutional duties as head of the Association during an election season.
Akinboro and Akangbe alleged that the Maiduguri admission was not an isolated incident but the culmination of a pattern of partisan conduct that began months earlier. They cited several specific instances:
At the NBA Annual General Conference in Enugu in 2025, the President allegedly used the platform of the official Health Walk to permit only one presidential aspirant to distribute campaign-branded face caps and stickers, while no similar opportunity was extended to other aspirants. During the official “Unbarred Party” at the same conference, a large projection screen allegedly displayed a prominent advertisement featuring a large image of the same aspirant.
The letter further alleged that the President had engaged in direct lobbying of members of the Bar, including Senior Advocates, urging them to vote for and support a particular aspirant. The two SANs stated that there are Senior Advocates prepared to testify to the President’s personal calls canvassing support. The most recent instance of such lobbying, according to the letter, occurred at the NBA Yola Branch Law Week.
Perhaps most damning, the letter alleged that National Secretariat staff — funded by the membership of the Association — had been used to distribute campaign materials for the same aspirant across various branches, describing this as a grave abuse of institutional resources and a fundamental breach of neutrality.
The letter also raised concerns about the unilateral annulment of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law elections by the President. According to the SANs, SPIDEL had commenced an electoral process at an advanced stage, with some candidates reported to have emerged unopposed. That process was abruptly annulled, and a caretaker committee was imposed for the next two years. The letter noted that Egbe Amofin Oodua had likened this development to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
In light of the allegations, Akinboro and Akangbe called on the Board of Trustees to intervene urgently, making four specific demands: the immediate resignation of Osigwe as NBA President; the immediate reconstitution of the Electoral Committee with clear safeguards guaranteeing independence, transparency, and neutrality; the establishment of an independent election oversight mechanism free from the influence of the President; and the use of the Board’s good offices to ensure credible, transparent, and fair elections.
The SANs rejected Osigwe’s analogy comparing himself to the President of Nigeria, arguing that unlike a distant appointing authority, the NBA President exercises direct and substantial institutional control over the electoral process.
The letter concluded with a stark warning that the NBA cannot credibly demand fairness and justice in society while tolerating conduct that undermines fairness within its own ranks.
With the matter now adjourned to April 15 and the interim restraining orders still in force, the NBA faces growing uncertainty over its 2026 electoral process. The suit has effectively paralyzed the work of the Electoral Committee and placed the President’s role in constituting the body under judicial scrutiny.
Neither President Osigwe nor the affected members of the Electoral Committee have publicly responded to the suit or the allegations contained in the SANs’ letter as of the time of this report.
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