How Can I Be The Candidate Of Tinubu’s Govt? – NBA President-elect, Badejo-Okusanya Gives Condition To Resign
President-elect of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya (SAN), has rejected suggestions that her family connections to President Bola Tinubu’s administration would compromise the association’s independence.
Naijaonpoint reports that Badejo-Okusanya, speaking during an interview on TVC News on Thursday, said her allegiance would remain with members of the legal profession.
Badejo-Okusanya said her administration would prioritise improving the NBA’s professional relevance to lawyers while strengthening its role in promoting justice and defending the rule of law.
She said, “How can I be the candidate of the Tinubu administration when the Tinubu administration is not a member of the NBA?
“The constitution of the NBA is very clear. I read it very closely before I offered myself to serve. I’m well aware of the responsibilities of the president of the NBA, and I have the mandate of members of the NBA to lead them. My obligation is to them.
“For the members, I want them to remember my presidency as one that made the NBA more relevant to them professionally.
“For Nigerians, I want them to remember the NBA as one that took its responsibility to protect and promote the rule of law, to be the watchdog of society and to defend those who are less able to speak for themselves very, very seriously.”
Badejo-Okusanya also dismissed allegations by some contestants and members of the legal profession that the 2026 NBA presidential election was rigged in her favour.
While reiterating that the electronic voting process underwent extensive public scrutiny and showed no indication of electoral malpractice, Badejo-Okusanya pledged to resign if credible proof surfaces that the election which brought her into office was manipulated.
According to the senior advocate, the voting pattern remained consistent throughout the exercise, with no irregularities such as sudden surges in votes that could indicate manipulation.
She stated, “The process that they say they cannot trust, my opponents are saying that it was rigged in my favour, and thankfully, this electoral process has come under the greatest scrutiny that any of our elections have come under since we started universal suffrage and electronic voting.
“From the time that I led, I led the election throughout consistently. There was never a time that I dropped down. There was never a time that any of my opponents passed me. I led consistently and the gap kept widening.
“The votes were trickling in organically. There was no evidence of dumping, which is what they say happens when there’s rigging going on. You didn’t suddenly see 20, 30, 50 votes coming.
“This election was the most watched. We have a system that refreshes every 10 seconds. People were watching and reposting. It was clear that there was no rigging.”
Responding to comparisons with former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who acknowledged that the election which brought him to office was flawed, Badejo-Okusanya said she would not remain in office if the legitimacy of her own election was successfully challenged.
She said, “I had no desire to be a president whose electoral process, the process that brought me to power, was being questioned.
“I told my co-contestants in public that if there was any indication or allegation that the process that brought me to power was flawed, I wouldn’t even discuss it with anyone before I resigned. That still remains my goal.”
The President-elect further dismissed claims of having received the backing of the outgoing NBA President, Afam Osigwe (SAN), noting that she was never informed about being his preferred candidate.
She added, “As a matter of fact, he never told me that. If he said it to anyone else, he never said it to me. I don’t know whether the cordiality and civility that he showed to me, whether I don’t have any impression that he wasn’t showing it to anyone else.”
