Aggrieved nba presidential candidate Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, has rejected the outcome of the 2026 Nigerian Bar Association presidential election, describing it as lacking credibility and alleging that thousands of lawyers were disenfranchised by the electronic voting platform.
Akangbe lost the contest to Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN.
![](https://www.theconclaveng.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Hartland.png")
In a five-page statement issued on Sunday, he thanked supporters but insisted the election was marred by systemic failures that undermined its integrity.
He said the statement was not about the declared figures, but about protecting members’ democratic rights.
“You were disenfranchised by infrastructure, not apathy”
“Thank you to every lawyer who stayed awake for two nights to cast a single vote. You refreshed a broken portal at 1 am, at 3 am, at 5 am. You set alarms. You tried on your phones, on your laptops, on borrowed devices. You sent screenshots to your branch whatsapp groups documenting every error, every timeout, every failed authentication. You did not give up. You did not go to bed. You did not surrender your franchise to a system that was collapsing around you.”
“Some of you succeeded in voting. The vast majority of you did not. Some of you tried for hours and were locked out by a platform that was never built to carry the weight of your democratic will. You were disenfranchised not by choice but by infrastructure. Not by apathy but by failure.”
—“Allegations against ECNBA”—
Akangbe accused the electoral committee of the nba of rushing the process after changing the authentication method 48 hours before voting.
“The ECNBA unilaterally moved the NEC-approved election date from 20 July to 18 July without obtaining NEC approval. at the meeting of 15 july 2026… an agreement was reached to postpone by one week to allow proper sensitisation on the new sms-based voting mechanism… that agreement was not honoured.”
He said the platform collapsed within the first hour.
“The ECNBA attributed this to a ‘deliberate, coordinated, and sustained cyberattack.’ whether that claim is true or not… it does not answer the question that matters: why did the attack succeed?”
Akangbe also disclosed he couldn’t vote despite help from top officials:
“I, a presidential candidate in this election, was completely disenfranchised. I could not vote. the chairman of the ecnba and the nba president personally sent me over five separate links to access the voting portal. Not one of them worked.”
—-“Low turnout, double voting claims”—
He cited turnout of about 27% from 82,164 accredited voters.
“not even a third of the profession voted.”
“There are also credible, documented reports of voters who were able to cast their ballots more than once on the same platform. If the system permitted double voting, the integrity of every single ballot is in question.”
“This election cannot pass any credibility test.”
—“Next steps”—
Akangbe said he will review all legal options before deciding on a challenge.
“I am reviewing all my options alongside my team. i will communicate a comprehensive, fully informed, and principled position on next steps shortly. when i do, it will be grounded in evidence, anchored in law, and driven by a single objective: the protection of the democratic rights of every member of this association.”
He urged supporters to remain committed to the NBA.
“This campaign was never about one man. It was about the proposition that the nba can be better, that it must be better, and that the lawyers of this country deserve an association that works for them.”
_Source: TVC News_
