1. I read, with dismay, the disturbing allegations recently made against the national leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) by Dr Anne Uriegi Agi and Barbara Tosan Onwubiko, bordering on electoral process manipulation, interference with due process, and brazen breach of the provisions of the Constitution of the Nigerian Bar Association 2015 (as amended) (the “NBA Constitution”) in relation to the recently held selection into the Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law (NBA-SPIDEL).
2. While it is tempting to consider these allegations as isolated, they must be seen in fuller context of the perennial allegations of election rigging, manipulation of the NBA voting system and brazen disregard of provisions of the NBA Constitution including those related to post election audit, which has trailed successive NBA elections, especially in the last decade.
3. The NBA is, without a doubt, the foremost professional membership association in Nigeria and the most influential network of legal practitioners in Africa. In line with the aims and objectives of the Association, as set out in the NBA Constitution, the NBA has consistently expressed its commitment to upholding the principles of democracy and the rule of law in Nigeria. It is for this reason that the NBA consistently monitors and observes key electoral events across Nigeria, as well as continues to hold government to account in cases of obvious impunity, abuse of office and disregard of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
4. Internally, the NBA Constitution guarantees that there shall be free and fair elections, not just into the National Executive Committee of the NBA and the General Council of the Bar, but also into various Branches’ executive committees and the Sections of the NBA, such as NBA-SPIDEL.
5. Regrettably, however, successive elections especially that of national officers of the NBA have been plagued by allegations of election manipulation and outright rigging to favour “anointed candidates”. At least three out of the last five NBA national elections, including the most recent election that produced the current NBA President, have resulted in court litigation. Incidentally, the appeal against the decision of the High Court refusing the petitioner access to conduct a post election audit, is still pending before the Court of Appeal. All of these have caused significant reputational damage to our esteemed Association, while repeated promises by the winners of these elections, to undertake electoral reforms have largely remained unfulfilled.
6. It is against the foregoing background that I was saddened to read the allegations made against the national leadership of the NBA by Dr Anne Uriegi Agi and Barbara Tosan Onwubiko that despite submitting nomination forms into the respective offices of Secretary and Treasurer of NBA-SPIDEL respectively, they were unconstitutionally excluded from the election on account of a meeting which took place on 2nd December 2025 under the auspices of the NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN and replaced them with other “hand-picked” candidates who did not submit nomination forms, against all acceptable democratic tenets and on grounds bothering on alleged petty partisanship and vengeance. It is also reported that the Chairman of the NBA-SPIDEL Electoral Committee, Mr Kunle Edun, SAN resigned on account of the decisions reached at the 2nd December 2025 meeting.
7. While one would have expected an immediate official denial by the NBA President, what followed was a haphazard denial contained in a press release dated 13th December 2025, that was first purportedly issued by the Publicity Secretary, Bright Edokwe and later reissued in the name of the NBA 1st Vice President, Sabastine Anyia, after the former denied its authorship. This alone calls for concern.
8. Without jumping into the fray, a reading of the NBA Press Release raises more questions than answers. For instance, the NBA Press Release states that contrary to the resolution of the NBA National Executive Council (NBA-NEC) on 11th May 2025, the NBA-SPIDEL interim leadership led by Prof. Paul Ananaba, SAN wrongly set up an Electoral Committee to be chaired by Kunle Edun, SAN to organise the election. Yet, the NBA national leadership failed to call the NBA-SPIDEL interim leadership to order or point out that the Electoral Committee was wrongly set up until the eve of the NBA-SPIDEL election when the NBA national leadership discovered that the Electoral Committee was on the verge of clearing Mr. John Aikpokpo-Martin – who in the view of the NBA national leadership was not qualified to contest – as candidate for Chairmanship of NBA-SPIDEL, and other candidates who were allegedly “hand-picked nominees of John Aikpokpo-Martins.” It was for this reason that the NBA President Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN convened a meeting of “so called stakeholders” of NBA-SPIDEL to avert an electoral crisis.
9. The fundamental questions left unanswered by the NBA Press Release include,
A). What provisions of the NBA Constitution arrogated to the NBA national leadership, as opposed to the Electoral Committee or the NBA-SPIDEL interim leadership, the power to determine the eligibility of candidates?
B). What provisions of the NBA Constitution mandated the NBA President to unilaterally call a ‘stakeholders’ meeting and override the decision of the Electoral Committee or the NBA-SPIDEL interim leadership?
C). What then is the role of the NBA Sections Election Appeal Committee created by the NBA Constitution?
10. This latest fiasco not only raises fundamental questions regarding the legitimacy of the recently held NBA-SPIDEL election but calls into question the readiness of the NBA to conduct a free and fair election into national offices in 2026.
11. As Nigeria’s foremost professional Association, our electoral process ought to be the standard for others to follow. These allegations seriously undermine our stated desire to be the watchdog of the society, tasked with holding successive Nigerian and State governments to account.
12. It is in this regard that I hereby call for immediate, transparent, and independent investigation into the 2025 NBA-SPIDEL election while calling on well-meaning members of the Association to join in this call.
13.This call is borne out of the fact these allegations (which borders on constitutional infraction, undue interference with electoral process, abuse of office and high-handedness) are egregious in nature and if established, are capable of destroying CONFIDENCE in the ability of the NBA to conduct a just, free and fair election into national offices in 6 months time. As Lord Denning once said: ” …..Justice must be rooted in confidence; and confidence is destroyed when right-minded people go away thinking: The Judge was biased.”
16th December 2025
LATEEF OMOYEMI AKANGBE, SAN, FCIArb(UK)
Past Chairman, NBA Lagos Branch
