The Bar We Are Becoming

[John Onyeukwu]

https://dnnmedia.ng/the-statecraft-report-the-bar-we-are-becoming-by-john-onyeukwu/

 The Bar We Are Becoming |

The political economy of the 2026 NBA presidential election |

(The StateCraft Report with John Onyeukwu)

On Saturday, 18 July 2026, members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) elected Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, as the 33rd President of the Association, succeeding Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN. She prevailed over Mr. Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, and Chief (Aare) Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, in an electronic election conducted by the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA). According to the ECNBA, the election recorded a 31.82% voter turnout, with just under one-third of over 82,000 verified eligible lawyers casting their ballots. Congratulations are due to the President-elect, the other candidates, the ECNBA, and every lawyer who participated in the process.

As always, however, elections are about more than winners and losers. They are moments of institutional reflection. They reveal not only who leads an organisation but also the values, pressures and expectations shaping that organisation. The 2026 NBA election should therefore be remembered not simply for who emerged victorious, but for what it tells us about the evolution of one of Nigeria’s most consequential professional institutions.

The first conversation has understandably centred on voter turnout. A participation rate of 31.82% invites questions. Some have interpreted it as evidence of voter apathy, while others see it as an indication that confidence in the electronic voting process remains a work in progress. Those are legitimate perspectives, but turnout statistics, by themselves, rarely tell the complete story. Electoral participation is influenced by many variables: confidence in the process, competitiveness of the race, ease of voting, mobilisation by candidates, and the broader institutional climate. Comparing turnout across elections without comparing the political and institutional contexts in which those elections took place often leads to simplistic conclusions.

That context is particularly important in assessing the 2026 election because its political economy differed significantly from that of the previous electoral cycle. Unlike the last election, this process was not dominated by prolonged litigation seeking to stop the polls. It was not characterised by allegations of direct interference by the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation in the conduct of the election itself. Election day was also spared the widespread allegations of cyberattacks that overshadowed the previous cycle and fuelled uncertainty about the integrity of the voting platform. These differences matter because institutional confidence is shaped not only by the mechanics of voting but also by the stability of the environment within which elections are conducted.

That is not to suggest that this election was free from controversy. Far from it. The weeks preceding the poll witnessed a public disagreement between the leadership of the NBA and the Attorney-General of the Federation over issues relating to the independence of the Association. Lawyers also engaged in vigorous debates over voter verification, the credibility of the electronic voting platform, backend transparency, auditability and the temporary arrest of the election service provider shortly before polling. These were healthy debates. Institutions become stronger when members are willing to interrogate their processes rather than merely defend them. Electoral credibility is not achieved by demanding trust; it is earned through transparency.

However, one feature of the 2026 election deserves deeper reflection because of what it signals for the future of the Bar. Throughout the campaign, there was an unusually high level of public endorsement by non-lawyers. More significantly, some of these endorsements were framed through ethnic and regional identities. While every Nigerian has a constitutional right to support whomever they choose, and while no candidate should be faulted for attracting goodwill, the emergence of ethnic narratives in a professional election raises questions that lawyers should not ignore.

The Nigerian Bar Association is not a political party. It is not an ethnic union, a regional organisation or a pressure group established to advance sectional interests. It is the professional association of Nigerian lawyers, united by a common oath, a shared ethical code and a constitutional responsibility to defend the rule of law. The NBA has earned its place in Nigeria’s democratic history precisely because it has often risen above the country’s political and ethnic fault lines. Its interventions have carried moral authority because they were perceived to be driven by constitutional principle rather than sectional calculation.

That reputation should never be taken for granted.

Professional associations derive legitimacy differently from political institutions. In politics, identity often plays a defining role because elected officials represent geographical constituencies and diverse populations. A professional association is different. Its unifying principle is competence, ethics and shared professional responsibility. The moment ethnicity becomes a significant organising principle in the election of professional leaders, the institution begins to lose the very characteristic that distinguishes it from partisan politics.

This is why the growing resort to ethnic endorsements should concern every lawyer, regardless of which candidate benefited or which group made the endorsement. The issue is not about any particular candidate or ethnic nationality. It is about precedent. Once professional elections become arenas for ethnic mobilisation, future contests become increasingly vulnerable to the same logic. Campaigns become less about ideas and more about numbers. Manifestoes become secondary to identity. Merit competes with ancestry. That is not a direction the Bar should encourage.

Ironically, the NBA has often been one of the strongest institutional voices against ethnic patronage in public appointments, selective justice and discriminatory governance. It regularly insists that public office should be determined by competence, constitutional principles and fairness rather than primordial considerations. It would therefore weaken the Association’s moral authority if lawyers become comfortable applying one standard to the country and another to themselves.

The challenge before the Bar is therefore larger than this election. It is about preserving an institutional culture where lawyers see themselves first as members of a profession before identifying with ethnic, regional or political constituencies. Nigeria already has too many institutions fractured along identity lines. The NBA should remain one of the few spaces where professional excellence consistently triumphs over primordial loyalties.

The election also reinforces another important lesson: institutional independence and electoral integrity are not competing objectives. They are mutually reinforcing. During the campaign, many lawyers demanded stronger identity verification, greater transparency in the electronic voting process and more robust audit mechanisms. Those demands should not be viewed as attacks on the Bar. They are investments in its credibility. An independent institution without credible internal elections gradually loses legitimacy. Conversely, even the most technically efficient election loses moral authority if members believe that external interests can shape its outcome. The NBA must therefore continue strengthening both its independence and its internal democratic processes.

For the President-elect, the election marks not the end of a campaign but the beginning of a more demanding responsibility. Leadership in a professional association is ultimately measured not by electoral victory but by institutional stewardship. Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya inherits a Bar whose members have demonstrated confidence and scepticism, optimism and concern. Her mandate is therefore not only to lead but also to unify, to restore confidence where necessary, to strengthen participation, and to ensure that the Association remains a fearless defender of constitutional democracy.

Ultimately, the real verdict on the 2026 NBA election will not be delivered by the final vote tally or by the turnout percentage. It will be delivered by history. It will depend on whether this election leaves the Bar more united than divided, more transparent than before, more trusted by its members and more respected by the wider society.

Institutions are not strengthened merely because elections are held. They are strengthened when every election reinforces the values upon which those institutions were built. For the Nigerian Bar Association, those values have always been independence, professionalism, courage, integrity and fidelity to the Constitution.

As lawyers, we ask governments to rise above ethnicity, defend due process and respect the rule of law. We should demand no less from ourselves. The greatest legacy of the 2026 NBA election will not be the name of the person who occupies the presidency. It will be whether the election leaves behind a stronger institutional culture, one where merit prevails over identity, ideas triumph over endorsements, and the Bar continues to speak with one independent voice for justice, democracy and the rule of law.

That, more than any electoral result, is what will define the future of the Nigerian Bar Association.

 

John Onyeukwu is a Lawyer and Governance & Social Impact Practitioner based in Abuja.

Email: jo...@impactbridgeafrica.com

John Onyeukwu
http://www.policy.hu/onyeukwu/

 http://about.me/onyeukwu
“Let us move forward to fight poverty, to establish equity, and assure peace for the next generation.”
-- James D. Wolfensohn
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