*As ECNBA Yet To Officially Announce 2026 Results
A comparison of the 2024 and 2026 Nigerian Bar Association National Elections has raised fresh questions over turnout, platform reliability and voter participation in the 2026 exercise, even as the 2026 ECNBA is yet to officially announce or declare the final results.
In 2024, the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, chaired by Oluseun Abimbola, SAN, conducted the NBA National Officers’ Election with 72,071 members qualified as eligible voters. The official 2024 declaration showed that 40,451 votes were tallied in the presidential race, with 205 abstentions. Mazi Afam Josiah Osigwe, SAN, was declared winner with 20,435 votes, representing 50.52 per cent of the vote.
By contrast, the 2026 election, conducted under the chairmanship of Chief Aham Ejelam, SAN, had a larger voter register of 82,172 registered voters, but the live dashboard showed that only 26,184 voters had voted, representing 31.86 per cent turnout. This means 55,988 voters, representing 68.14 per cent, had not voted as of the dashboard update.
The 2026 process was also marked by technical controversy. Unlike the 2024 election, where there was no comparable public claim of a cyberattack on the voting platform, the 2026 ECNBA announced that the e-voting platform had suffered a coordinated cyberattack. Voting, originally expected to commence at midnight, later opened at 7:35 a.m. after the portal was migrated to a new domain.
For the 2026 presidential race, the dashboard showed Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, leading with 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the 26,106 votes recorded for the office of President. Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, followed with 7,934 votes, representing 30.39 per cent, while Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, had 5,855 votes, representing 22.43 per cent.
The figures show that although the 2026 register had 10,101 more voters than the 2024 eligible voter list, the number of votes recorded for the 2026 presidential contest on the live dashboard was far lower than the 2024 presidential tally. While the 2024 presidential race recorded 40,451 votes tallied, the 2026 dashboard showed 26,106 votes for the presidential office a difference of 14,345 votes.
When the 40,451 votes tallied and 205 abstentions in the 2024 presidential race are compared with the 72,071 eligible voters, the participation figure stands at about 56.41 per cent. In 2026, however, the live dashboard recorded 31.86 per cent turnout, leaving 68.14 per cent of registered voters outside the voting figure displayed.
The difference between the 2024 presidential participation rate and the 2026 dashboard turnout is about 24.55 percentage points.
In the 2024 General Secretary race, 37,443 votes were tallied, with Dr. Mobolaji Idris Ojibara declared winner after polling 25,713 votes, representing 68.67 per cent.
In the 2026 General Secretary race, however, the live dashboard showed 25,245 votes recorded, with Afam O. Okeke leading with 8,478 votes, representing 33.58 per cent.
The contrast has strengthened complaints by some lawyers who claimed they were unable to vote due to OTP delays, authentication errors, portal access issues and other technical challenges.
While the 2024 declaration presented final results with votes tallied and abstentions across offices, the 2026 election was marked by delayed commencement, domain migration, alleged cyberattack claims, support desk notices, OTP complaints and a low turnout figure compared with the number of registered voters.
However, the 2026 figures remain based on the live results dashboard and are provisional, pending the formal announcement and declaration of final results by the ECNBA.
The development has prompted calls for the ECNBA to publish a full post-election technical audit showing what happened to the platform, how many voters attempted to vote but failed, how OTP complaints were resolved, whether the alleged cyberattack affected voter access, and whether the final results fully reflect the will of eligible NBA members.
