Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association has announced that voting in the 2026 NBA National Elections will commence at 7:35 a.m. on Saturday, July 18, 2026, after an earlier delay blamed on security concerns around the e-voting platform.
In a fresh notice titled “ECNBA: Commencement Of Voting,” sent to candidates, eligible voters, agents and observers, the Committee again apologised for the delay in the commencement of voting, which had initially been scheduled to begin at 12:00 a.m. WAT.
The ECNBA said that once voting commences at 7:35 a.m., the voting window will remain open for exactly 24 hours from the time of commencement.
This means voting is expected to continue until 7:35 a.m. on Sunday, July 19, 2026, after which no vote will be accepted.
The Committee also announced that the voting portal had been migrated to a new secured domain as part of what it described as heightened security measures to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process.
According to the notice, the new and only valid voting portal is:
https://ecnba.org.ng/vote/ecnba-ovs-main/
The ECNBA warned members to use only the new address and to disregard any other link, platform or communication claiming to direct voters to another website.
“The official voting portal is now https://ecnba.org.ng/vote/ecnba-ovs-main/ — use only this address to cast your vote,” the notice stated.
The Committee further said that updates would be communicated promptly through official ECNBA channels as they become available.
It appreciated the patience and understanding of candidates, agents, consultants, observers and eligible voters, while reaffirming its commitment to ensuring what it described as a free, fair and credible electoral process.
The notice was signed by Aham Ejelam, SAN, Chairman of ECNBA 2026, and Ibrahim Aliyu Nassarawa, Esq., Secretary of the Committee.
The fresh notice came after an earlier communication by the ECNBA in which it said the e-voting platform had been subjected to a deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack by external actors.
The Committee had earlier said voting had not commenced and that no votes were being accepted at the time of the alleged attack.
With the latest notice, the ECNBA has now shifted the voting process from the earlier announced portal to a new domain, raising further questions about the level of threat faced by the original platform and the extent of security measures now in place.
The development also raises questions about whether lawyers’ personal data, voting credentials, authentication records or other sensitive election information were at any point exposed or compromised.
As of the time of this report, there has been no independent confirmation that lawyers’ data was compromised, and the ECNBA has not publicly provided technical details on the nature of the alleged cyberattack, the level of attempted intrusion, or whether any forensic audit has been conducted.
The incident has renewed concerns about the capacity of the Election Voting Service Provider and the robustness of the digital infrastructure deployed for the NBA election, especially given earlier complaints by some candidates and stakeholders about the voting platform, authentication system and overall preparedness for the poll.
It also underscores the importance of media engagement and public scrutiny in an election of this magnitude. A more open engagement with the media could have allowed the ECNBA and its service provider to address questions on infrastructure capacity, cyber-security preparedness, data protection, voter authentication, contingency planning and the safeguards in place before election day.
However, the Committee’s limited engagement with the media before the election meant that many of these questions were not publicly tested ahead of the vote, despite repeated concerns raised by lawyers and stakeholders about the service provider and the credibility of the electronic voting process.
The ECNBA has nevertheless maintained that it remains committed to conducting a credible election and has urged eligible voters to use only the newly announced official portal.
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