Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya becomes the 33rd president of the Nigerian Bar Association, and only the second woman to lead it in 93 years
Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya emerged on Sunday as the winner of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election, becoming the 33rd president of the association and only the second woman to lead it since its founding in 1933.
Badejo-Okusanya polled 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the 26,106 ballots cast, to defeat her closest challenger, Lateef Akangbe, who secured 7,934 votes (30.39 per cent).
Olumuyiwa Akinboro, the third presidential candidate, polled 5,855 votes (22.43 per cent). She will serve a two-year term running from 2026 to 2028, succeeding outgoing president Afam Osigwe.
Born into an academic household
Badejo-Okusanya was born on 15 January 1967 in Lagos, the first child of the late Olufolabi Olumide, a general surgeon who became the first vice-chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), and Clara Folasade Abiodun Olumide, née Solarin, a university administrator who rose to become the first female registrar of the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
She grew up on the University of Lagos campus at Akoka, in a household that placed strong emphasis on integrity, hard work and service, values she has cited as shaping her career and commitment to public service.
From an English degree to a decade-later return to law
Badejo-Okusanya earned a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in English from the University of Lagos in 1987 before returning to the same institution to study law, obtaining her LL.B (Hons) in 2000.
By her own account, she initially stepped away from pursuing law after her first degree, delaying her legal training for more than a decade before resuming her studies. She was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2002.
Early legal career and public service in Lagos
Badejo-Okusanya began her legal career at Olaniwun Ajayi LP, one of Nigeria’s leading commercial law firms, where she developed expertise in litigation and advisory practice.
In 2007, she was appointed senior special assistant on justice sector reform to Babatunde Raji Fashola, then governor of Lagos State, working in the office of the attorney-general and commissioner for justice, Olasupo Shasore, SAN.
In that role, she contributed to justice sector reforms, including the relocation of the office of the public defender and changes to inmate transportation arrangements.
In 2011, she was appointed general counsel to the governor of Lagos State, a position she held until 2015. During her eight years in Lagos State government, she advised on public-private partnerships, arbitration legislation, consumer protection, and the state’s home-ownership mortgage scheme.
Building a career in arbitration and dispute resolution
In 2017, Badejo-Okusanya became a founding partner of Africa Law Practice NG & Company (ALP NG & Co.), where she serves as co-head of the firm’s litigation and dispute resolution practice.
She advises private individuals, corporations and government institutions on complex commercial disputes before Nigerian trial and appellate courts, as well as in domestic and international arbitral proceedings, with a focus on intellectual property, media and entertainment law, and public-sector regulatory compliance.
She is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and an accredited CEDR mediator, and has served on the executive committee of CIArb’s Nigeria branch.
She has served on the board of the Lagos Court of Arbitration since 2015 and contributed to the reform process that produced Nigeria’s Arbitration and Mediation Act 2023.
She holds memberships in the London Court of International Arbitration, the International Council for Commercial Arbitration, the African Arbitration Association, ArbitralWomen, the International Bar Association, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, and the International Federation of Women Lawyers, and is a life member of the African Women Lawyers Association. She was elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on 29 September 2025.
Two decades of service inside the NBA
Before her presidential bid, Badejo-Okusanya had served the NBA in various capacities for more than two decades, including as assistant secretary of the NBA Lagos branch, a delegate to the 2006 NBA elections, a member of the NBA Lagos branch building committee, chair of the NBA Lagos branch annual dinner committee from 2021 to 2022, a member of the future of the legal profession committee, alternate chair of the 2023 annual general conference planning committee, and chair of the 2024 annual general conference planning committee.
She has been a co-opted member of the NBA National Executive Council since 2022 and received the NBA Presidential Medal of Service in August 2024.
A hard-fought and contested path to the presidency
Badejo-Okusanya entered the 2026 NBA presidential race as the only female candidate among three Senior Advocates of Nigeria seeking to succeed Osigwe.
The presidency for the 2026 cycle was zoned to the western axis of the country. Her candidacy, under the slogan “A Bolder Bar That Works for Everyone,” focused on lawyers’ welfare, institutional accountability and reducing the cost of legal practice.
The election was contested against a backdrop of controversy. Egbe Amofin O’odua, an association of lawyers of Yoruba extraction, sought to have the NBA recognise Akinboro as the sole consensus candidate for the western zone, pursuing its position through litigation at the Oyo State High Court.
Separately, Akinboro and Akangbe jointly raised concerns about the fairness of the electoral process. The Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) also disclosed that its voting platform had been targeted by a coordinated cyberattack shortly before polls were due to open, delaying the start of voting.
Voting was conducted electronically over 24 hours, from 7:35am on Saturday, 18 July, to 7:34am on Sunday, 19 July, after the election portal was migrated to a new, secured domain. Badejo-Okusanya maintained an early lead throughout the exercise and steadily widened the margin over her rivals. She was absent when results were declared at the NBA National Secretariat in Abuja, having been delayed by a flight.
A member of her campaign team, Aminu Gadanya, SAN, said she remained committed to fostering unity within the legal profession and intended to extend a “handshake of friendship” to all contestants. Outgoing president Osigwe urged the winners to be magnanimous in victory, describing it as a trying time for the Bar.
Other officers elected alongside her include Oghenero Okoro as First Vice-President, Afam Okeke as General Secretary, Aghogho Gladys as Assistant General Secretary, and Chinelo Audrey Ofoegbunam as Welfare Secretary.
Personal life
Badejo-Okusanya is married to Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, a public relations consultant and president of the African Public Relations Association, with whom she shares a son, Olaoluwakiitan.
The couple, who attended secondary school together, have been married for nearly three decades. In February 2023, they were honoured by the Osile Oke Ona Egbaland, Oba Dr Adedapo Tejuoso, with chieftaincy titles, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya became the Bobakede of Oke Ona Egba, while she was conferred the title of Erelu Bobakede of Oke Ona Egba.
She is the elder sister of Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, making the Olumide sisters one of the more prominent pairs in Nigerian public life, one now leading the country’s commerce ministry, the other its foremost legal association.
Badejo-Okusanya has also taken on pro bono work for indigent defendants over the course of her career, including capital cases that ended in acquittal and appeals that overturned wrongful convictions.
She is a chorister and church steward at Emmanuel Chapel, Methodist Church Nigeria, in Ikoyi, Lagos, and has listed reading, music and travelling among her personal interests., music and travelling among her personal interests.
