Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya
The election of Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya as President-elect of the Nigerian Bar Association has opened a new chapter in the history of Nigeria’s legal profession, ending a 34-year wait for another woman to rise to the association’s highest office.
Badejo-Okusanya, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and experienced dispute-resolution practitioner, emerged victorious in the 2026 NBA presidential election after defeating two other candidates in a keenly contested electronic poll.
She secured 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 per cent of the 26,106 ballots cast. Voting began at 7:35 a.m. on Saturday, July 18, and ended at 7:34 a.m. on Sunday, July 19. She was the only woman among the three presidential candidates.
Following her victory, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya is expected to become the 33rd president of the Nigerian Bar Association and the second woman to lead the influential professional body since its establishment in 1933.
Her election is his yinkansola Badejo-Okusanyaoric, but her professional journey shows that her victory was built on more than symbolism. Here are important things to know about the NBA President-elect.
She is the second woman to lead the NBA
The first woman to serve as President of the Nigerian Bar Association was Dame Priscilla Olabori Kuye, who held the position from 1991 to 1992.
For more than three decades after Kuye’s tenure, the NBA presidency remained occupied by men. The emergence of Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya has therefore broken a 34-year absence of female leadership at the top of the association.
The NBA itself recognised Kuye as the association’s first female president when it honoured her as a patron of the NBA Women Forum in 2024.
Although her gender gives the election historical importance, Badejo-Okusanya consistently presented her candidacy as one based on competence, experience and service rather than gender alone.Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya
She was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2002
Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Lagos and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2002.
Before studying law, she had also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the same university. Her combination of legal training and humanities education helped establish the communication, advocacy and analytical skills that later became central to her career.
She began her professional journey at Olaniwun Ajayi LP, one of Nigeria’s leading commercial law firms. That early exposure introduced her to complex legal practice and provided the foundation for a career spanning private practice, government service, institutional reform and professional leadership.
She has extensive dispute-resolution experience
Badejo-Okusanya is a partner at Africa Law Practice NG & Company, commonly known as ALP NG & Co, where she serves as co-head of the firm’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice.
She has more than two decades of experience advising and representing individuals, private companies and government institutions in commercial disputes before Nigerian trial and appellate courts.
Her professional work also covers domestic and international arbitration, mediation, regulatory compliance, public policy and alternative dispute resolution.
She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in the United Kingdom and an accredited mediator of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution. She also serves on the board of the Lagos Court of Arbitration.
Her election means the NBA will be led by a lawyer with practical experience in resolving disputes, managing negotiations and navigating relationships between private businesses, public institutions and legal professionals.
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She served in the Lagos State Government
The career of Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya has not been limited to private legal practice.
In 2007, she was appointed Senior Special Assistant on Justice Sector Reform to then Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola. She worked in the office of the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.
During this period, she contributed to programmes intended to improve access to justice, strengthen public institutions and protect vulnerable citizens.
In 2011, she became General Counsel to the Governor of Lagos State, a position she held until 2015. Her responsibilities included advising the government on public-private partnerships, arbitration legislation, compliance, consumer protection, housing programmes and justice-sector reforms.
She also acted as a link between the Lagos State Government and the Nigerian Bar Association, helping to sustain cooperation between the government and different branches of the association.
She helped shape Nigeria’s modern arbitration framework
One of the less-publicised aspects of Badejo-Okusanya’s career is her involvement in arbitration reform.
She served on the Executive Committee of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators’ Nigeria Branch and chaired its annual conference planning committee for three consecutive years. The conferences were held in Lagos in 2014, Abuja in 2015 and Port Harcourt in 2016.
She was also a member of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group and National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable working group on arbitration and dispute resolution.
The group participated in reform efforts that contributed to the enactment of Nigeria’s Arbitration and Mediation Act 2023, which replaced the country’s earlier arbitration legislation and introduced a more contemporary legal framework for resolving commercial disputes.
She has held several leadership positions in the NBA
Long before entering the presidential race, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya had served the Nigerian Bar Association in different capacities.
Her previous roles include Assistant Secretary of the NBA Lagos Branch, delegate to the 2006 NBA elections, member of the Lagos Branch Building Committee and member of several national conference-planning committees.
She was also chairperson of the NBA Lagos Branch Annual Dinner Committee in 2021 and 2022, a member of the Future of the Legal Profession Committee and a member of the Conference Investigation Committee.
Badejo-Okusanya served as alternate chairperson of the 2023 NBA Annual General Conference Planning Committee before becoming chairperson of the 2024 committee. She has also served as a co-opted member of the NBA National Executive Council since 2022.
In August 2024, she received the NBA Presidential Medal of Service in recognition of her contributions to the association, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya.
She led the NBA’s landmark 2024 conference
One of the biggest tests of her organisational leadership came when she chaired the planning committee for the 2024 NBA Annual General Conference in Lagos.
The conference attracted more than 16,000 registered lawyers and was organised under the theme, “Pressing Forward: A National Posture for Rebuilding Nigeria.”
For the first time, the principal leadership positions of the conference planning committee were occupied entirely by women. Badejo-Okusanya served as chairperson, while Amina Suleiman Kaoje, Laura Alakija and Chika Okojie occupied other senior coordinating positions.
The scale of the conference strengthened her reputation as an organiser capable of managing large professional teams, complex logistics and competing interests.
She became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2025
Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya was elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria on September 29, 2025.
The SAN rank is one of the highest distinctions available to legal practitioners in Nigeria and is awarded to lawyers who have demonstrated professional excellence and significant contributions to legal practice.
Her elevation came less than a year before the 2026 NBA presidential election, further strengthening her standing among senior and junior members of the profession.
She has a record of pro bono representation
Beyond commercial practice, Badejo-Okusanya has participated in pro bono legal work for people unable to afford representation.
Her reported interventions include defending indigent individuals facing serious criminal charges and supporting appeals that resulted in the reversal of wrongful convictions.
This aspect of her career will be closely examined during her NBA presidency because access to justice remains a major challenge in Nigeria, particularly for poor defendants, vulnerable citizens and people held for prolonged periods without adequate representation, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya.
Her campaign placed NBA members at the centre
During the presidential campaign, Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya adopted the message, “Members First. Always.”
She promised to build a more inclusive, responsive and independent Bar, with greater attention to the welfare and professional needs of lawyers across different branches and areas of practice.
Her campaign also emphasised institutional independence, mentorship, professional development, gender inclusion and improved support for young lawyers.
The challenge before her will be translating those promises into measurable programmes. Young lawyers continue to complain about poor remuneration, limited opportunities, expensive professional development and difficult working conditions.
What her victory means for the Nigerian Bar
The election of Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya represents an important achievement for women in Nigeria’s legal profession. However, the success of her tenure will ultimately be measured by the quality of her leadership rather than the historical nature of her election.
Members will expect the incoming administration to protect the independence of the Bar, defend the rule of law, address lawyers’ welfare and respond firmly to threats against constitutional government and the administration of justice.
Her experience in private practice, government, arbitration, institutional reform and NBA administration gives her a broad foundation for the assignment.
The symbolic importance of having a second female NBA president cannot be ignored. Yet the greater task is to build an association that commands public confidence and provides meaningful value to its members.
As Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya prepares to lead the Nigerian Bar Association from 2026 to 2028, attention will now shift from the excitement of her victory to the difficult work of fulfilling her promises.
For the NBA President-elect, history has opened the door. Performance will determine how her administration is remembered.
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