The Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP) has asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to stop the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) from swearing in its President-elect, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, and other newly elected national officers pending the outcome of a legal challenge.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1471/2026, ALDRAP also joined the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) as a respondent. The association is seeking an order restraining the NBA from proceeding with the inauguration until the court delivers judgment on the matter.
According to the court filings, the plaintiff requested “An order of interim/perpetual injunction restraining NBA, its agents, privies, National Executive Committee, or any persons claiming through them, from swearing in Mrs. Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, or any other person as President of the NBA or into any other National Office, until the final determination of this suit or further order of this court.” It also asked the court to maintain the current leadership of the NBA until the case is concluded.
The association argued that the NBA election remains the subject of an ongoing legal dispute, citing alleged voter disenfranchisement, technical failures of the electronic voting platform, non-compliance with the NBA National Executive Committee timetable, and constitutional concerns relating to Section 134(2) of the 1999 Constitution.
ALDRAP Administrative Secretary, Jesse Amuga, also questioned the credibility of the election process. He said, “Twenty-four hours after the alleged NBA elections, not a single international or domestic election observer has released any report to corroborate their observations of the e-voting infrastructure that both the NBA President and the ECNBA alleged that they deployed. Amnesty, YIAGA and TMG are afraid of soiling their respective reputations. If no independent observers are commenting on the alleged NBA elections, that speaks volumes.”
The association further asked the court to stop the AGF from interfering in the NBA election and to prevent both the AGF and the NBA from interfering with the Blue Silks rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria, which ALDRAP introduced as an alternative recognition for non-litigation lawyers. It also requested that the Nigerian Law Society (NLS) and the Law Society of Lesotho be appointed as independent election observers.
In additional filings, ALDRAP asked the court to join Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, Lateef Akangbe, SAN, Amnesty International, YIAGA, and the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) as parties to the suit.
In the disputed NBA election, Badejo-Okusanya secured 12,317 votes to defeat Lateef Akangbe, SAN, and Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN. She is scheduled to be sworn in on 21 August 2026, succeeding the outgoing NBA President, Afam Osigwe, SAN.
Do you think the court should resolve the election dispute before the new NBA leadership is sworn in?
