A group of Nigerian lawyers has launched a campaign seeking reforms within the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), with particular focus on issues arising from the association’s July 18, 2026 presidential election.
The initiative, tagged “Reform the NBA,” is calling for an independent audit of the 2026 presidential election and a rerun conducted under credible and independently verifiable safeguards.
In a statement issued by Maduka Onwukeme on behalf of the group, the lawyers said their demand was informed largely by concerns surrounding the NBA’s electronic voting process and the disruptions recorded during the election.
The group pointed to the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), which acknowledged that voting did not commence as scheduled and identified technical problems including database connection failures, authentication changes, server instability and an authentication verification defect.
According to the group, voting was reportedly impossible for several hours before the election was suspended and subsequently moved to an alternative platform.
The lawyers also questioned the explanation that the disruption resulted from coordinated cyberattacks, arguing that the claim should be independently established through a technical and forensic audit.
Such an audit, they said, should determine what occurred, identify the cause of the disruption and establish whether the available electoral records support the result eventually declared.
The campaign has also raised concerns about voter participation. The group noted that 26,184 of the 82,172 registered voters participated in the election, representing a turnout of 31.86 per cent. It cautioned against automatically describing the 56,107 members who did not participate as either apathetic or disenfranchised without further examination.
The campaign therefore seeks broader institutional reforms aimed at strengthening confidence in the NBA’s electoral processes and ensuring greater transparency, accountability and credibility in future elections.
The initiative comes amid continuing debate within the legal profession over the conduct and outcome of the 2026 NBA presidential election.
You must be logged in to post a comment.