The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has halted its 2026 presidential election after a cyberattack disrupted its electronic voting platform just before voting was due to begin on Saturday.
Voting was scheduled to commence at 12:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 18, but the process could not begin after the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) said external actors targeted the platform in an attempt to interfere with the election.
The ECNBA announced the development in a statement issued in the early hours of Saturday.
According to the committee, the e-voting platform came under a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” shortly before voting was due to commence. It said the attack was specifically designed to disrupt, sabotage and undermine the 2026 NBA national elections and described it as a direct assault on the technical infrastructure put in place to conduct the exercise.
The committee stated that its cybersecurity experts immediately activated emergency response measures in collaboration with the Election Voting Service Provider (EVSP) to contain the attack and restore normal operations. It explained that efforts were ongoing to neutralise the threat while carrying out extensive security checks to ensure the integrity of the voting system before lawyers are allowed to cast their ballots.
“The system is expected to be fully restored and voting will commence immediately upon restoration,” the ECNBA said.
The electoral committee stressed that voting had not commenced before the cyberattack occurred and that no votes were accepted through the platform at the time the announcement was made. It assured members of the association that the voting portal would only be reopened after it had been fully secured and certified safe for use.
The ECNBA urged lawyers across the country to remain calm and wait for further official communication instead of attempting to log into the voting platform. It also warned members not to rely on any website or communication other than its officially designated voting portal, www.ecnbaovs.org.ng, cautioning that unofficial links or messages could be part of the malicious campaign targeting the election.
Despite the disruption, the committee said the election process remained under its supervision, noting that all candidates, their agents and accredited observers were present at the designated monitoring centre where developments were being monitored in real time.
// Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, FCIArb
// Oyinkansola Badejo-Okunsanya, SAN
The latest development adds to months of controversy surrounding the NBA election. The process has been marked by court cases, disagreements over zoning arrangements, allegations of bias against the association’s leadership and claims of external interference.
The election process began after the NBA National Executive Council approved a five-member Electoral Committee chaired by Aham Ejelam (SAN), with Ibrahim Nassarawa serving as secretary. The presidential position for the 2026 election was zoned to the association’s Western Zone, producing three Senior Advocates of Nigeria as presidential candidates.
Several legal battles also threatened the election before polling day. Earlier this year, an Oyo State High Court restrained the NBA from proceeding with the exercise following a suit filed by four lawyers challenging the legitimacy of the electoral process and the composition of the ECNBA.
The controversy deepened after Egbe Amofin O’odua, an association of Yoruba lawyers, insisted that one of the presidential aspirants, Olumuyiwa Akinboro, should emerge as the sole consensus candidate for the Western Zone and sought court intervention to enforce the arrangement.
There were also calls for NBA President Afam Osigwe to resign after two presidential candidates accused him of failing to remain neutral during the election process. Former NBA Publicity Secretary Muritala Abdul-Rasheed also demanded Osigwe’s resignation over separate allegations, all of which the NBA president denied.
The election was further thrown into controversy following reports that the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, had allegedly directed that the poll be postponed from July to August. Osigwe rejected the alleged intervention, insisting that only the NBA National Executive Council has the constitutional authority to suspend or alter the election timetable.
Days before the election, the Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan cleared the way for the poll by setting aside an earlier order that had restrained the NBA from proceeding. The appellate court ruled that the Oyo State High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that before Saturday’s disruption, the ECNBA had confirmed that 82,213 lawyers across 139 NBA branches were eligible to vote. It also announced that the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police Force, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) would monitor the election from a central control room in Abuja.
The ECNBA assured members that it remains committed to conducting a credible, transparent and secure election and promised to provide further updates through its official communication channels as work continues to restore the voting platform.
The statement announcing the suspension was signed by the Chairman of the ECNBA 2026, Aham Ejelam (SAN), and the committee’s Secretary, Ibrahim Nassarawa.