NBA president-elect meets Tinubu, vows to unite bar
The president-elect of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, on Tuesday said she was reaching out to members and stakeholders ahead of her swearing-in in August to heal whatever hurt the election process had left behind and put the association’s house in order.
She made the remarks to journalists after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, during which she said the President congratulated her on her victory and they discussed the challenges and improvements needed in the association’s electronic voting process.
The new NBA Chief said, “He congratulated me on the victory. We talked about the challenges of electronic voting and technology, and we spoke about the ways in which we can continue to improve on our processes. It was very encouraging.”
On her immediate priorities before her formal inauguration at the end of August, Badejo-Okusanya said she was already reaching across lines to build peace.
She stated, “My swearing-in is not until the end of August. In the meantime, I continue to reach out to members and stakeholders so that we can work together to improve things, to heal the hurt anyone has, and to continue to ensure that we do things to make the NBA fulfill its role to society
“Everything that needs to be done, I can assure members and the public that I will do.
“We will make sure that we unite ourselves. We will make sure that we put our house in order.”
Badejo-Okusanya is the first woman ever elected to lead the 120,000-member body in its 75-year history.
While Joyce Oduah served as the association’s first female president in the 1990s following an appointment process rather than a contested election, Badejo-Okusanya becomes the first woman to win the NBA presidency through a direct vote of the membership .
Her victory, however, was not without controversy.
The electronic voting process, introduced to modernise the NBA’s electoral procedure and expand participation across its over 120 branches, generated complaints from some candidates and members about technical glitches, access difficulties and concerns about the integrity of the collation process.
President Tinubu, in a congratulatory statement released on July 21, had acknowledged the controversy by urging Badejo-Okusanya to “reach out to the other contestants, unify the bar and make efforts to correct issues that arose during your election.”
The NBA is the umbrella body for legal practitioners in Nigeria and plays a central role in the administration of justice, advocacy for judicial independence and the development of the rule of law.
