PROFILE: Badejo-Okusanya, NBA's new president, who returned to study law a decade after earning English degree
Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya has been elected as the 33rd president of the Nigerian Bar Association, becoming the second woman to hold the position in the organization's history. She secured a decisive victory with 47 percent of the vote, building on a career that spans both English literature and law.
Why it matters
Her election represents a significant milestone for gender representation in Nigeria's legal leadership and highlights the evolving demographics of the country's professional associations.
Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya on Saturday emerged as the winner of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential election, becoming the 33rd president of the law association.
Badejo-Okusanya polled 12,317 votes, representing 47.18 percent of the total votes cast, to defeat her closest challenger, Lateef Akangbe, who secured 7,934 votes (30.39%).
Olumuyiwa Akinboro, the third presidential candidate, polled 5,855 votes, representing 22.43 percent of the total votes.
Badejo-Okusanya is the second woman to lead the NBA in its history, and the first to be elected directly
Priscilla Kuye, the first female NBA president, assumed office in January 1992, after the association’s then-president, Clement Akpamgbo, was appointed attorney-general of the federation (AGF). Kuye later contested the presidency in her own right that year but was unsuccessful.
In the more than three decades that followed, Funke Adekoya, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was the only other woman to contest the NBA presidency.
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