Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has congratulated Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya on her election as the 33rd NBA president with 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 percent of all votes cast.
Badejo-Okusanya, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, defeated two other candidates in the Nigerian Bar Association’s 2026 national officers’ election to become the association’s second female president in its history, succeeding outgoing President Afam Osigwe.
On Monday, Sanwo-Olu released a statement describing her emergence as a historic milestone for the legal profession and said her victory was a testament to her decades of dedication, professionalism, and commitment to the rule of law.
“Congratulations to Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, on her historic election as the president of the Nigerian Bar Association,” the governor stated in the release. “Becoming only the second female president in the history of the NBA is no small feat.”
Lateef Akangbe, SAN, finished as the closest challenger, polling 7,934 votes. Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, placed third after garnering 5,855 votes in the same election, placing well behind the winning margin Badejo-Okusanya secured.
Sanwo-Olu said in the statement that Badejo-Okusanya had, over the years, built a reputation for excellence, legal precision, and an unwavering commitment to the rule of law and that her rise to leadership at the bar reflected decades of hard work and relentless dedication to justice.
“Her rise to the leadership of the bar reflects decades of hard work and relentless dedication to justice,” the governor stated, adding that he had full confidence her tenure would bring visionary leadership to the association.
According to the statement, Sanwo-Olu described Badejo-Okusanya’s victory as a proud moment for the legal profession and an inspiration to young women across Lagos and Nigeria who aspire to occupy leadership positions in their respective fields.
“I have full confidence that her tenure will bring visionary leadership and advance the cause of justice in our society,” the statement read. The governor also extended official congratulations on behalf of the government and people of Lagos State.
Badejo-Okusanya will serve a two-year term from 2026 to 2028. Her election places her as only the second woman to hold the NBA presidency, a record that had stood for more than three decades before the 2026 vote.
The first female NBA president, Priscilla Kuye, led the association between 1991 and 1992. Badejo-Okusanya’s election in the 2026 national officers’ ballot now establishes her as the second woman to occupy the position in the association’s entire recorded history.
“On behalf of the government and people of Lagos State, I wish her a successful and impactful term in office,” Sanwo-Olu stated, closing the congratulatory message released from the Lagos State Government on Monday.
Sanwo-Olu further described her emergence as an inspiration to young women across Lagos and Nigeria who aspire to leadership positions, noting that the victory was a proud moment for the entire legal profession across the country. The framing was deliberate.
Badejo-Okusanya’s election did not occur in a vacuum. It arrived at a moment when conversations about gender representation in Nigeria’s professional and institutional spaces have grown louder, and her ascent to the presidency of the country’s foremost legal body adds concrete weight to those conversations in a way that symbolic gestures rarely do.
The governor’s statement did not detail any planned formal engagement between the Lagos State government and the new NBA leadership. Whether that engagement materializes in the months ahead remains to be seen, though the relationship between state governments and the bar association has historically carried significance on matters of judicial appointments, access to justice, and legal reform.
His two-year tenure as the 33rd NBA president runs from 2026 to 2028, succeeding Afam Osigwe, who held the position before her election. The priorities she sets in her opening months will offer the clearest early indication of the direction she intends to take the association during her time in the role.
