The Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) has postponed the start of voting in the 2026 NBA national elections after its electronic voting platform was allegedly hacked.
Naijaonpoint understands that voting was expected to begin at midnight on Saturday, July 18, 2026, but the exercise failed to start following what the committee described as a deliberate attempt to compromise and disrupt the electoral process.
In a statement released in the early hours of Saturday, the ECNBA apologised to candidates, voters, agents, consultants and election observers over the delay.
It said the electronic voting infrastructure was subjected to a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” shortly before voting was scheduled to commence.
The electoral body said its cybersecurity experts and the Election Voting Service Provider had activated emergency measures to contain the attack and secure the platform.
According to the committee, technical teams were working to neutralise the threat, restore the system and ensure that the election could proceed without compromising its credibility.
“The system is expected to be fully restored and voting will commence immediately upon restoration,” the committee stated.
The ECNBA did not announce a new time for the commencement of voting, saying the process would begin only after the platform had been fully secured.
The committee clarified that voting had not started and that the system was not accepting ballots at the time the statement was issued.
It assured NBA members that the portal would be reopened once technical experts had confirmed that it was safe and fully operational.
The committee urged eligible voters to await further official communication before attempting to access the election platform.
The ECNBA also cautioned members against accessing unofficial platforms or responding to unauthorised messages claiming to provide links to the election portal.
It said the only approved voting platform was its designated portal, warning that other links or communications could form part of the alleged malicious campaign against the election.
The committee asked lawyers to rely exclusively on information released through its official channels.
Despite the disruption, the electoral body said candidates, their agents and independent observers remained at the designated monitoring centre.
It added that the election continued to be supervised by the committee while efforts were underway to restore the voting platform.
The committee reaffirmed its commitment to conducting a transparent and credible election, insisting that it would not reopen the platform until the identified security threats had been addressed.
It promised to provide further updates through official communication channels as the technical recovery efforts progressed.
The statement was signed by the Chairman of the ECNBA 2026, Aham Ejelam (SAN), and the committee’s Secretary, Ibrahim Nassarawa.
