In a statement following a strategic advocacy meeting on women inclusiveness held on April 13, 2026, at Abuja Continental Hotel, Abdul-Rasheed alleged that Osigwe’s public endorsement of Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, amounts to a calculated attempt to influence the electoral process and undermine the long-standing zoning arrangement within the NBA.
A fresh controversy has erupted within the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Muritala Abdul-Rasheed, accused the Association’s President, Afam Osigwe, of deploying the rhetoric of inclusiveness as a cover for political manipulation ahead of the body’s forthcoming elections.
In a statement following a strategic advocacy meeting on women inclusiveness held on April 13, 2026, at Abuja Continental Hotel, Abdul-Rasheed alleged that Osigwe’s public endorsement of Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN, amounts to a calculated attempt to influence the electoral process and undermine the long-standing zoning arrangement within the NBA.
The senior lawyer, who is also a former Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, described the development as “a troubling chapter in what has become a pattern of calculated and orchestrated partisanship.”
“The office of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is one that carries not only administrative authority but also immense moral responsibility,” Abdul-Rasheed said.
“It is an office expected to embody dignity, honour, neutrality, fairness, and fidelity to the collective will of the Bar. When that office is deployed as an instrument of subtle but aggressive political engineering, cloaked in the language of noble ideals, it raises profound concerns about institutional integrity.”
He further argued that the President’s actions at the Abuja meeting, ostensibly convened to promote women’s participation in leadership, were anything but neutral.
“The recent conduct of the NBA President, Mr. Afam Osigwe, SAN, at a strategic advocacy meeting on women inclusiveness represents yet another troubling chapter in what has become a pattern of calculated and orchestrated partisanship,” he stated.
Abdul-Rasheed pointed to existing zoning arrangements within the South-West caucus of the NBA, particularly the Egbe Amofin bloc, insisting that the presidency had already been zoned to the Oyo/Osun axis, thereby excluding candidates from the Lagos/Ogun zone — the region from which Badejo-Okusanya hails.
“Any rational or honest observer of the meetings, decisions, and reports emanating from the South-West/Egbe Amofin will appreciate the fact that, in line with the NBA Constitution, the Egbe has zoned or sub-zoned the presentation of its candidate for the office of President to the Oyo/Osun Zone, outside the Lagos/Ogun Zone,” he said.
He questioned the rationale behind the President’s endorsement of a candidate from outside the agreed zone, asking pointedly: “Are there no qualified women lawyers from the Oyo/Osun Zone?”
Raising further concerns, Abdul-Rasheed accused Osigwe of inconsistency and selective advocacy, questioning why the NBA President did not promote the emergence of a female president during the 2024 electoral cycle, when it was the turn of his South-East zone to produce the NBA President.
“When did the NBA President suddenly awaken to the imperative of foisting a woman President of his choice on the Nigerian Bar Association, the largest congregation of lawyers in Africa?” he asked.
“Why did he fail to advance this prognosis in 2024, when it was the turn of the South-East Zone, his own zone of origin, to produce the President of the NBA?”
He continued, “Why did he instead contest, rather than stepping aside or projecting the cause or candidature of one of the many highly erudite and professionally accomplished women within the South-East?”
The senior advocate also made grave allegations regarding ongoing legal disputes, claiming that the NBA President was acting in disregard of pending court processes related to the forthcoming elections.
“It is also very worrisome and concerning that the NBA President who is aware of pending causes against him in respect of the way and manner he is trying to manipulate the forthcoming NBA elections, as well as injunctive orders against him, is the one telling the entire world, by his actions and utterances today, that he does not care a damn about the rule of law or accord any respect to court processes,” Abdul-Rasheed alleged.
He warned that the President’s open alignment with a preferred candidate could compromise the credibility of the NBA’s electoral process.
“For the sitting President of the Association to, in effect, undermine this process by openly canvassing support for an alternative agenda is to strike at the very heart of the institutional order of the Bar,” he said.
“An election cannot be said to be free and fair when the incumbent President has so openly aligned himself with a particular outcome.”
Abdul-Rasheed emphasised that the NBA, as the largest body of lawyers in Africa, must uphold the highest standards of fairness, transparency, and adherence to the rule of law, noting that any deviation would erode its moral authority in Nigeria’s democratic space.
“The NBA occupies a unique position as a moral compass in the nation’s democratic journey. It routinely calls on political actors to uphold the principles of fairness, transparency, and the rule of law. It cannot, therefore, afford to fall short of these standards within its own internal processes,” he said.
Clarifying his position on gender inclusion, he noted that the issue was not opposition to a female NBA President, but rather the method being employed.
“In the final analysis, the issue is not whether the NBA should, at some point, produce a female President. That is a legitimate aspiration and one that deserves serious consideration within the framework of fairness and due process,” he stated.
“The issue, rather, is the propriety of a sitting President using the weight of his office to subtly but unmistakably influence the outcome of an election under the guise of promoting inclusiveness.”
He called on the members of the Bar to defend the integrity of the association.
“The Bar must, therefore, rise in defence of its institutional integrity. It must reject attempts to manipulate its processes under whatever guise they may come. And it must insist that those entrusted with leadership conduct themselves in a manner that reflects the highest ideals of the profession,” Abdul-Rasheed said.
“Anything less would not only betray the trust of its members but also compromise the legacy of an institution that has, for decades, stood as a beacon of justice, fairness, and the rule of law.”
Efforts to contact the President, Afam Osigwe, were unsuccessful, as he did not answer his calls or respond to messages sent to him.
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