Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and one of the presidential candidates in the recently concluded Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) national election, has formally petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate what he describes as widespread constitutional, procedural, and technological breaches that marred the electoral process. Akinboro, who finished third in the July 18-19, 2026 election with 5,855 votes, has declared the exercise a "sham" and is demanding an independent forensic audit of the entire voting process, insisting that the election was unknown to the NBA Constitution and therefore null and void.
In a 41-page petition dated July 27, 2026, which was also copied to the Chairman of the Body of Benchers, the General Council of the Bar, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the NBA President, and the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA), Akinboro rejected the outcome of the poll that saw his opponent, Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, declared the winner with 12,317 votes (47.18 per cent), while the second candidate, Lateef Akangbe, SAN, polled 7,934 votes.
At the heart of the controversy is a coordinated cyber attack that crippled the association's electronic voting platform just hours before voting was scheduled to begin. The ECNBA had attributed the delay to a "coordinated cyberattack" by external actors, forcing voting to commence later than the scheduled midnight start. According to Akinboro's petition, the platform suffered a major malfunction about two hours after voting commenced, rendering the website inaccessible for more than seven hours and preventing thousands of eligible lawyers from casting their votes.
Akinboro argued that the electoral committee's subsequent decision to migrate the voting to another website that had neither been approved by the National Executive Committee nor subjected to independent verification by the candidates' information technology representatives fundamentally altered the nature of the election. He contended that once the election was migrated to a different portal, it became a different election altogether that would require strict compliance with the step-by-step requirements of the NBA Constitution, including sending trial messages at least 21 days before the election and subjecting the platform to necessary integrity tests.
The petition also raised concerns about the delivery of One-Time Passwords required for voter authentication. According to Akangbe's separate petition to the Election Appeal Committee, widespread failures in OTP delivery disenfranchised thousands of eligible lawyers. Although the NBA published a register containing 82,213 eligible voters before the election, only 26,106 members eventually voted, leaving more than 56,000 lawyers unable to participate. Akangbe maintained that more than 25,000 lawyers willing to vote for him never received the authentication codes.
In his petition, Akinboro called on the EFCC and DSS to conduct "a comprehensive investigation into possible violation of the provisions of the Cyber Crime Act, the Data Protection Act and all other relevant laws in the conduct of the election". He specifically requested that the security agencies examine the veracity of the alleged cyber attack on the e-voting platform, compliance with election guidelines, the circumstances surrounding the use of multiple links during the election, whether persons not qualified to vote participated, and whether votes recorded represent actual votes received.
Beyond the technological failures, Akinboro also alleged that the election was marred by bias, abuse of office, and manipulation that compromised the credibility of the process. According to his petition, after the 2024 NBA election, President Afam Osigwe, then President-elect, encouraged him to contest the 2026 NBA presidency and later introduced him to former NBA President Augustine Alegeh, SAN, who agreed to support his ambition if he could convince the South-West bloc to accept a micro-zoning arrangement. When Akinboro rejected the proposal, he alleged that Alegeh and Osigwe turned against his candidacy.
Akinboro also accused the NBA leadership of using the association's official platforms and resources to support the eventual winner. He claimed that during the 2025 NBA Annual General Conference in Enugu, officials distributed campaign materials for Badejo-Okusanya while denying other candidates the same opportunity. He further alleged that at the NBA National Executive Council meeting in Maiduguri on February 5, 2026, Osigwe openly declared that he could not remain neutral because he had the right to support a candidate of his choice. Akinboro also accused Osigwe of contacting several senior advocates and asking them to withdraw their support for his candidacy.
Akinboro defended his decision not to petition the NBA Appeals Committee, arguing that "there has to first be an election known to the NBA Constitution before a petition can arise". He maintained that the "charade" that took place on July 18 and 19 was not an election known to the NBA Constitution. In addition to the forensic audit and security investigation, Akinboro is calling for an immediate reconstitution of the ECNBA to conduct a fresh National Officers' Election in accordance with the provisions of the NBA Constitution. He also demanded that the NBA leadership make public the reports of observers, including the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Yiaga Africa, and INEC, who were billed to monitor the election.
Akinboro's petition marks a significant escalation in the post-election dispute, as he has bypassed the internal NBA appeal mechanism and taken his grievances to security agencies and the Attorney-General of the Federation. His co-contestant, Lateef Akangbe, has also separately challenged the election outcome by petitioning the NBA National Officers Election Appeal Committee, seeking to nullify the election on similar grounds of constitutional, procedural and technological irregularities. As the NBA grapples with the fallout from an election that was already complicated by technical failures and allegations of manipulation, the calls for a forensic audit and security investigation are likely to deepen scrutiny of the association's electoral processes and raise fundamental questions about the credibility of the 2026 presidential election. The EFCC and DSS have yet to issue official statements on whether they will act on Akinboro's petitions.
📩 Stone Reporters News | 🌍 stonereportersnews.com
✉️ info@stonereportersnews.com | 📘 Facebook: Stone Reporters News | 🐦 X (Twitter): @StoneReportNew | 📸 Instagram: @stonereportersnews
Add comment
Comments