NBA Election: Pinheiro Urges President-Elect Badejo-Okusanya to Prioritise Bar Unity

Kemi Pinheiro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has urged the President-elect of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, to make reconciliation and unity the central focus of her administration as she prepares to lead Africa’s largest association of lawyers.

Pinheiro made the call in a congratulatory statement issued on Sunday, following Badejo-Okusanya’s election as the first woman to be directly elected president of the NBA by the association’s membership. He described the reunification of the association as her foremost priority.

Pinheiro said restoring trust among members would be essential to strengthening the NBA’s voice on national issues. He noted that the Bar is currently polarised along generational, ideological, and sometimes personal lines. According to him, internal unity is more than an organisational goal — it is a national necessity, as a fractured NBA cannot effectively fulfil its public duty.

“A united Bar is indispensable to the protection of the rule of law, the welfare of lawyers, and the defence of justice and good governance in our nation,” Pinheiro said. He pledged his support to the incoming administration, saying the President-elect could count on him as she works to build a stronger, more united and more effective NBA.

Badejo-Okusanya, also a SAN, defeated two other senior lawyers to emerge President-elect of the NBA on Saturday. She polled 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the 26,106 valid ballots cast. She will become the 33rd President of the lawyers’ body.

Dame Priscilla Kuye had previously served as NBA President in 1991, after being elected First Vice President and succeeding to the top office when then-President Clement Akpamgbo was appointed Attorney-General of the Federation under the administration of then Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida. Badejo-Okusanya’s victory marks the first time the general electorate of the Bar has directly voted a woman into the presidency.

The election was not without controversy. Two defeated presidential candidates, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe (SAN) and Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro (SAN), rejected the credibility of the process, citing alleged widespread technical failures and irregularities in the electronic voting system. Outgoing NBA President Afam Osigwe (SAN) appealed for calm, urging lawyers to put the disputes behind them and preserve the unity of the association.

Responding to the divisions surrounding her emergence, Badejo-Okusanya has pledged an inclusive leadership. “We are one Bar, united by a common commitment to the advancement of our profession and the defence of justice and the rule of law,” she said in a statement on Sunday. She also called on members of the legal profession to unite behind a common vision for the Bar.

With the NBA now facing pressure to reconcile its fractured membership before Badejo-Okusanya’s inauguration, attention will turn to how the incoming leadership addresses the disputed conduct of the election and whether the aggrieved candidates accept the outcome.