Fresh concerns have emerged over the integrity of the ongoing Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) National Elections, as lawyers across the country continue to report technical difficulties, alleged
disenfranchisement, and challenges accessing the electronic voting platform.

The complaints come after the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) announced that the commencement of voting had been delayed following what it described as a coordinated cyber attack on its electronic voting infrastructure.

The Committee subsequently restored voting and assured members that the integrity of the electoral process remained intact.

However, as voting progressed, numerous lawyers reported being unable to access the platform, receive authentication credentials, or successfully cast their ballots.

Some members also alleged discrepancies between votes cast and figures displayed on the election dashboard.

Adding to the controversy, two presidential candidates, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN and Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, have each publicly indicated that they were unable to cast their own votes because of difficulties encountered during the voting process.

Their reported inability to vote has intensified concerns among members over the reliability and accessibility of the electronic voting system.

Lawyers from several branches have continued to call for greater transparency from the ECNBA, with many urging the Committee to immediately address complaints relating to voter access, authentication, and the accuracy of the voting process.

The ECNBA has maintained that it is committed to conducting a free, fair, transparent, and credible election and has urged members to rely on its official communication channels for verified updates.

The election, which has already been overshadowed by months of litigation, allegations of bias, and debates over the electronic voting process, is widely regarded as one of the most consequential in the Association’s recent history.

The election had earlier been thrown into uncertainty after the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, ECNBA, announced an indefinite delay in the commencement of voting following what it described as a coordinated cyberattack on its electronic voting platform.

Voting was originally scheduled to commence at midnight  but failed to start as planned after the electoral body disclosed that external actors targeted the platform in an apparent attempt to compromise the integrity of the process.

In a statement signed by the Chairman of ECNBA 2026, Aham Ejelam, SAN, and the Committee’s Secretary, Ibrahim Aliyu Nassarawa, Esq., the electoral body said the platform came under a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” aimed at disrupting, sabotaging and undermining the election.

In a protest letter addressed to the Electoral Committee of the ECNBA on Saturday, Akangbe said the election had suffered a “catastrophic structural and technical collapse” less than three hours after voting commenced.

The senior lawyer urged the committee to halt the exercise, preserve all voting records, commission an independent audit of the platform and postpone the election until the identified issues are resolved.

Akangbe’s first complaint centred on what he described as the collapse of the electronic voting portal.

He claimed that as of 2:09 am, the platform was inaccessible to the majority of the about 82,000 accredited voters, with users reporting errors, authentication failures and timeouts.

“If the portal is inaccessible to the general membership, how were any votes cast at all? Who had access to the platform during a window in which the public could not enter?” he asked.