Human Rights Advocate Condemns NBA Election Crisis, Warns Legal Body Is Losing Integrity, Public Trust

Human Rights Advocate Condemns NBA Election Crisis, Warns Legal Body Is Losing Integrity, Public Trust

...Also Says NBA Must Clean Up Its House Before 2027 Elections

By Naomi Onome

Comrade Prince Saviour Iche, President of the Ambassadors for Peace and Enlightenment Foundation (AMPEF), has condemned the controversy surrounding the 2026 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) national elections, describing the crisis as a national embarrassment that has further eroded public confidence in Nigeria’s legal profession.

Speaking during an interview monitored by Voice of the Voiceless Media, the human rights advocate said the lingering dispute over the NBA presidential election has reduced the once highly respected legal body to “a laughing stock,” warning that the association risks losing its moral authority to hold politicians accountable ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The NBA has been engulfed in controversy following its July 2026 national elections in which Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya (SAN) was declared president-elect. However, the outcome has been fiercely challenged by aggrieved members who have approached the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to stop her scheduled inauguration on August 21, alleging widespread irregularities in the electronic voting process.

The election dispute has centered on claims of technological failures, voter disenfranchisement, ballot design anomalies, and legal challenges that have divided members of the country’s foremost legal association.

Reacting to the development, Prince Iche said it was unfortunate that an organization expected to uphold justice and the rule of law had become embroiled in the kind of electoral controversy it often criticizes in the nation’s political system.

“It is a very shameful thing, very shameful. The Nigerian Bar Association is really becoming a laughing stock. They are exposing themselves more and showing that they have lost their integrity bit by bit,” he said.

According to him, the legal profession has traditionally been one of the most respected professions in Nigeria, with many families taking pride in having a lawyer among them because of the confidence associated with justice and fairness.

“This is a profession where every family always wants to have a lawyer. If you say you have a lawyer in your family, everyone respects you, or at least respects the legal profession. But recently, that noble profession is becoming a laughing stock,” he stated.

Prince Iche lamented that the NBA, which should set standards for credible elections, had failed to demonstrate transparency in its own internal democratic process.

“They ought to lead by example with their elections. When politicians hold elections and there are issues, they tell people to go to court because it is assumed the court is the last hope of the common man. But when politicians corrupt lawyers and judges, building houses for judges and compromising institutions that ought to remain independent, the judiciary is brought so low.”

He expressed concern over what he described as growing contradictions within Nigeria’s judicial system, pointing to instances where conflicting judgments are obtained from different courts within short periods.

“Right now, the NBA has descended so low. We see conflicting judgments. Someone can obtain a judgment from a High Court in one state in the morning, while another person secures a counter judgment from an Appeal Court elsewhere. Now they are having issues with their own election, an election they claimed was conducted electronically. More than a week later, they are still arguing over the outcome. It is deeply shameful.”

The controversy surrounding the NBA election intensified after presidential candidates, including Lateef Akangbe (SAN), protested what they described as catastrophic failures of the electronic voting platform during the exercise.

Several senior lawyers alleged that the election portal experienced repeated server crashes while One-Time Passwords (OTPs) required for accreditation and voting were either delayed or never delivered, preventing many eligible members from participating in the election.

Other complaints centered on the electronic ballot itself, with critics alleging that the names and photographs of candidates were not uniformly displayed, raising concerns about the credibility and fairness of the process.

Following the declaration of results, a faction of dissatisfied lawyers instituted legal proceedings at the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking an injunction to stop the swearing-in of the newly elected national officers pending the determination of their suit.

The current legal battle follows months of pre-election disagreements that had already polarized the association. The build-up to the election witnessed disputes over zoning arrangements, disagreements concerning the voters’ register, and multiple lawsuits challenging aspects of the electoral process.

The crisis has also spread beyond the national level.

At the branch level, particularly in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, disagreements over branch elections reportedly led to clashes between rival factions at the NBA secretariat. The dispute, which centered on allegations that the voters’ register had not been properly published and that electoral guidelines were violated, forced the postponement of elections and prompted heavy security deployment to restore order.

Prince Iche questioned where the NBA would now seek justice when it could not successfully resolve disputes arising from its own election.

“Now that they have these issues, where will they go? Will they go to the National Assembly to ask who won their election? Who will they turn to? It is a total mockery. The NBA has disciplinary committees, but if the Nigerian legal body is heading in this direction, what becomes of the hope of the common man?” he asked.

He accused the legal profession of gradually adopting the negative practices often associated with Nigerian politics.

“It is unfortunate. They have learned very fast from their political masters who have corrupted them.”

Calling for urgent reforms, the AMPEF president urged the association to put an end to the prolonged controversy by accepting the outcome of the election while implementing comprehensive reforms to restore confidence in its electoral process.

“It is high time the NBA manages itself and stops ruining its reputation. They should accept the candidate who emerged and let them proceed. Whoever assumes leadership after all this back-and-forth must make sanitizing the system the first priority because the system has become compromised.”

He further warned that unless the NBA restores public confidence in its own processes, it would lose the moral authority to challenge electoral misconduct during Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.

“They should be ashamed of themselves and try to put things right. If they cannot put their own house in order, how will they monitor or caution politicians as the 2027 elections approach? If the 2027 elections result in irregularities, where will people go? Who will render fair judgment? Who will sanitize the system? It is truly unfortunate.”

The ongoing legal battles and internal divisions within the NBA have continued to generate widespread concern among legal practitioners and civil society groups, many of whom believe the association must urgently address the credibility concerns surrounding its electoral process to preserve public confidence in the legal profession and Nigeria’s justice system.