Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential candidate, Akinboro Olumuyiwa, has rejected the outcome of the association’s recently concluded national election, describing it as the worst electoral process in the NBA’s history.
The election, which ended on July 19, saw Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, emerge as the winner after polling 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the total votes cast.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday, Olumuyiwa alleged that the election was plagued by serious irregularities that compromised its credibility.
According to him, the online voting platform crashed just 30 minutes after voting commenced at midnight, disrupting the process and affecting candidates.
Olumuyiwa also claimed that his name and photograph were initially missing from the ballot, describing the development as unacceptable.
“This is the worst of all the elections we have had in the NBA. The election was supposed to commence at 12 midnight, but within 30 minutes the site crashed. My name was not on the ballot and my picture was missing,” he said.
He questioned the explanation that the disruption resulted from a cyberattack, arguing that such an incident could not have altered information already uploaded to the voting platform.
“They later said it was a cyberattack. A cyberattack can shut down a system, but it cannot change data that has already been entered into it,” he added.
Olumuyiwa further stated that after waiting until about 6:30 a.m., officials announced that the election had been suspended. However, he said participants were later informed that voting had resumed, a development he said created confusion among voters and candidates alike.
Despite his objections, the NBA has declared Badejo-Okusanya the winner of the election.
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