NBA: I’ll resign if evidence of election rigging emerges – Badejo-Okusanya

Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, the president-elect of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has issued a strong pledge: she will resign if credible evidence of rigging surfaces in the election that brought her to power.

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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.

Speaking on TVC News, Badejo-Okusanya directly addressed allegations of manipulation leveled by some contestants and legal professionals. She firmly asserted that the electronic voting system used in the 2026 NBA presidential election underwent extensive public scrutiny and showed no signs of malpractice. "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," she stated.

She highlighted the consistency of her lead throughout the voting exercise, noting the absence of irregularities like sudden vote surges. "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," Badejo-Okusanya explained. She described the votes as "trickling in organically" with no evidence of "dumping," a common indicator of rigging.

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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.

Badejo-Okusanya drew a distinction between her stance and that of former President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, who acknowledged flaws in his own election. "I had no desire to be a president whose electoral process, the process that brought me to power, was being questioned," she said. "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."

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I had no desire to be a president whose electoral process, the process that brought me to power, was being questioned.

Addressing other claims, she denied receiving explicit backing from the outgoing NBA President, Afam Osigwe, and refuted suggestions that her family connections to the Federal Government would compromise the association's independence, questioning how the administration could be a candidate of the NBA.

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How can I be the candidate of the Tinubu administration when the Tinubu administration is not a member of the NBA?