A presidential candidate in the 2026 Nigerian Bar Association national election, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, has called for the immediate suspension of the poll over alleged technical failures, security breaches and defects in the electronic ballot.

Akangbe made the demand in a protest letter addressed to the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) on Saturday, July 18, shortly after voting commenced.

Electronic voting in the national election began at midnight on July 18, with the results expected to be announced on Sunday.

In his complaint, Akangbe alleged that the voting platform suffered a major technical breakdown within the first three hours of the exercise, leaving many of the approximately 82,000 accredited voters unable to access the portal.

According to him, voters reported access errors, authentication failures and repeated timeouts. He further questioned reports that votes cast before the disruption might be cancelled and the election restarted, arguing that such a step could undermine confidence in the process.

The presidential candidate also accused the ECNBA of departing from its revised electronic voting guidelines by allegedly delivering some OTPs through email rather than exclusively by SMS to voters’ registered telephone numbers.

He maintained that the alleged use of email for voter authentication contradicted the security arrangement previously communicated by the Committee and raised concerns about the integrity of the voting system.

Akangbe further alleged that the electronic ballot displayed the photograph of only one of the three cleared presidential candidates, while the photographs of the other candidates, including his, were omitted or failed to load.

He argued that the alleged defect gave one candidate an unfair visual advantage and raised questions about the testing and certification of the electronic voting platform before the election.

Akangbe consequently asked the ECNBA to:

• Suspend the election immediately;
• Preserve all voting records generated so far;
• Commission an independent audit of the electronic voting platform; and
• Reschedule the election after the identified concerns have been resolved.

He warned that continuing the election without addressing the complaints could affect public confidence in its outcome and the legitimacy of whoever emerges as NBA President.