Senior Advocate of Nigeria Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya was inaugurated as the 33rd President of the Nigerian Bar Association on Friday 28 August 2026 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, after outgoing President Afam Osigwe, SAN, administered the oath of office.

The ceremony at the Ceremonial Court of the High Court Complex closed the association’s Annual General Conference, held under the theme “Beyond Limits”.

Also read: NBA Port Harcourt election halted amid voters’ register crisis

Senior members of the Bar and Bench looked on as Afam Osigwe presented a handover note and stepped aside after a two-year term.

“This is your handover note. A more comprehensive one will be given to you later. I hereby now out,” Afam Osigwe told his successor.

Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, 59, is the second woman to lead the NBA and the first to win the presidency in a competitive election.

Dame Priscilla Kuye held the office from 1991 to 1992 after succeeding Clement Akpamgbo. The new president will serve until 2028.

She won the electronic poll of 18 to 19 July 2026 with 12,317 votes, or 47.18 per cent. Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, took 7,934 votes. Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, took 5,855. About 26,184 of 82,172 registered lawyers voted, a turnout of 31.86 per cent.

The contest was not quiet. Rivals alleged technical faults and later petitioned for the result to be set aside.

On Thursday Afam Osigwe told the Annual General Meeting that the Election Appeal Committee had dismissed those petitions.

Lateef Akangbe said the poll should still be treated as inconclusive because so many members did not vote. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya had already said she would resign if it were shown that the process was rigged.

Afam Osigwe used his final report to argue that he was leaving a stronger, more digitally capable and more financially stable Bar, despite a cyberattack that forced the electoral committee to rebuild its systems mid-vote.

He asked the new leadership to keep faith with lawyer welfare and the rule of law.

The incoming president built her campaign on “A Bolder Bar That Works for Everyone”, with stress on welfare, cheaper practice, judicial independence and help for young lawyers. Called to the Bar in 2002, she first took an English degree at the University of Lagos before returning for law, later earning an LL.M. at Queen Mary University of London. She was appointed Senior Advocate of Nigeria on 29 September 2025.

In July President Bola Ahmed Tinubu received her at the State House and called the election a mark of merit and inclusion.

Also read: NBA Port Harcourt election halted amid voters’ register crisis

The moment is historic for the profession. The work now is quieter: holding a divided Bar together after a bitter poll, and turning a campaign slogan into two years of office.