Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, has maintained a commanding lead in the ongoing Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election as voter turnout surpassed 21,000, following an earlier delay caused by a cyberattack on the electronic voting platform.
Updated results released at about 6:00 p.m. on Saturday showed that 21,665 lawyers out of 82,164 registered voters had cast their ballots, representing a 26.37 per cent turnout.
The results so far indicate:
Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya: 9,930 votes (45.82%)
Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN: 6,708 votes (30.99%)
Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN: 5,021 votes (23.21%)
The latest figures show Badejo-Okusanya consolidating her advantage as voting and collation continue in one of the most closely contested NBA presidential elections in recent years.
The election had earlier been thrown into uncertainty after the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) announced an indefinite delay following what it described as a coordinated cyberattack on its electronic voting platform.
Voting was originally scheduled to commence at midnight on Saturday but was delayed after the electoral body disclosed that external actors had targeted the platform in an apparent attempt to compromise the integrity of the election.
In a statement signed by ECNBA Chairman, Aham Ejelam, SAN, and Secretary, Ibrahim Aliyu Nassarawa, Esq., the committee described the incident as a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” aimed at disrupting the electoral process.
The ECNBA said its cybersecurity team, working with the Election Voting Service Provider, immediately activated emergency security measures to contain the attack and restore the platform.
The committee assured members that no votes were accepted during the disruption and that voting only commenced after the system had been secured.
The incident heightened concerns among lawyers nationwide after weeks of debate over voter verification, the electronic voting process and the overall integrity of the poll.
Despite the disruption, the ECNBA maintained that the election remained under its supervision, while candidates, their agents and observers continued to monitor the process from the designated election centre.
