Says Oyo suit sought to disrupt NBA Election process
Comrade Etaba Agbor, Personal Assistant to the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has fired back at Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jibrin Samuel Okutepa (SAN), accusing the senior lawyer of attempting to absolve himself of responsibility for the controversies that trailed the 2026 NBA presidential election while casting the outcome as a “coronation” and a “sham.”
Agbor, a young lawyer, issued the rebuttal on X (formerly Twitter), responding directly to a lengthy and scathing post by Okutepa SAN in which the senior lawyer described the NBA as “rotten and corrupt in every aspect,” alleged that successive elections since 2016 had been cyber-rigged by cabals, and called on security agencies to investigate what he termed “criminal enterprises” behind the election.
In his response, Agbor challenged Okutepa to accept his own share of blame rather than position himself as a detached moral authority.
“Learned Silk, with the greatest respect, I do not think you can entirely absolve yourself of the events that culminated in the last NBA election,” Agbor wrote.
He accused Okutepa of leading a team of lawyers to the Oyo State High Court in Ibadan in a suit that “sought orders capable of disrupting the electoral process and effectively denying thousands of lawyers the opportunity to freely exercise their constitutional right to choose from all qualified candidates.”
Agbor noted that the Court of Appeal had since delivered judgment on the matter, holding that the High Court lacked jurisdiction and describing the resort to that court as “forum shopping.”
“That judgment should equally form part of this conversation on the rule of law and due process,” he said.
Agbor seized on Okutepa’s description of the NBA’s one-lawyer-one-vote system as “so-called universal suffrage,” arguing that the phrase confirmed a longstanding suspicion about certain interests within the legal profession.
“That does not come as a surprise to many of us because, for years, there has been a widely held perception that some within the Egbe Amofin movement have been uncomfortable with the one-lawyer-one-vote system that has democratised the NBA,” Agbor stated.
“Universal suffrage may not be perfect, but it has given every lawyer regardless of status, geography or affiliation an equal voice in determining the leadership of our Association. That is a democratic gain worth preserving.”
Agbor also raised what he described as a critical but overlooked dimension of the election controversy the last-minute proposal to change the authentication method used during voting.
He alleged that the presidential candidate openly supported by Okutepa had proposed, less than 48 hours before the election, that the Election Committee of the NBA (ECNBA) should abandon the approved dual email-and-SMS OTP authentication system and adopt an SMS-only OTP process.
“When significant challenges arose with SMS OTP delivery on Election Day, the responsibility was placed everywhere except on those who advocated the change,” Agbor said.
He argued that if genuine accountability was the objective, “it cannot be selective,” and that “those who championed proposals that materially affected the conduct of the election must also accept responsibility for the consequences of those proposals.”
Agbor concluded by acknowledging that no electoral process is perfect and that the 2026 election “undoubtedly experienced challenges,” but insisted that reforms should be pursued through proper channels rather than litigation aimed at disenfranchising voters or last-minute procedural changes that create avoidable difficulties.
“Those reforms should be pursued through constitutional means, evidence-based proposals, and respect for democratic choice not by attempting to disenfranchise lawyers through litigation, undermining universal suffrage, or advancing last-minute changes that create avoidable difficulties,” he said.
Striking a deferential but firm tone, Agbor signed off: “I’m your very little son in the legal profession. I may not know so much, but these concerns trouble me as I read your post, Learned Silk.”
Agbor’s response was provoked by a lengthy post on X by Okutepa SAN on July 21, in which the senior lawyer launched one of his most blistering attacks yet on the NBA’s internal governance and electoral credibility.
Okutepa described the most recent NBA presidential election as a “pre-determined coronation” and called on security agencies and cybercrime experts to investigate those involved.
“If things work well in Nigeria and people are held accountable for acts or omissions done or failed to be done, which actions or omissions undermined due processes and the rule of law, by now those who were involved in the just coronated sham and symbolic NBA elections should be the guests of our security agencies and cybercrime experts to account for their roles in the criminal enterprises that produced the pre-determined coronation called NBA elections,” Okutepa declared.
The senior lawyer alleged that since the introduction of universal suffrage in the NBA’s electoral process, persistent allegations have persisted that “a few men of the cabals sitting comfortably by computer devices” have been determining who emerges as NBA President.
“Indeed, the actions and or inactions of successive Presidents of NBA from 2016 till date have faced one form or the other of the allegations of cyber-rigging of the NBA elections to favour a pre-determined candidate supported by the President in power,” he said.
He acknowledged that these allegations had not been proved in court, but attributed that to the Nigerian justice system’s reliance on “technical approach to justice rather than justice based on substantial approach,” insisting that “the perception is real.”
Okutepa further accused the NBA leadership of running the Association with “despotic and dictatorship” tendencies, alleging that some National Officers “were and or are just in office by names” and had their duties stripped away by successive NBA Presidents and reassigned to “unelected aides.”
“Freedom to disagree has been turned into a weapon of persecution and oppression. I am a direct victim. I have no regret speaking the truth,” he said.
He concluded with a sharp challenge: “Nigerian lawyers need to heal themselves of the rottenness in NBA before speaking on the rottenness in Nigeria. Until then, those in the leadership of NBA and their supporters should stop pontificating as apostles of the rule of law and due process in Nigeria.”
The public exchange has drawn sharp reactions from lawyers across the country, with opinion divided along familiar lines.
Supporters of Okutepa’s position have rallied behind his call for greater transparency and accountability in the NBA’s electoral system, arguing that recurring allegations of manipulation regardless of whether they have been judicially established have eroded confidence in the process. Several lawyers echoed his view that the Association cannot credibly champion the rule of law in Nigeria while its own internal governance remains contested.
Others aligned with Agbor’s response, arguing that Okutepa’s broadside ignored his own camp’s role in the controversies that marred the election cycle. These lawyers contended that the legal challenge mounted in the Oyo State High Court subsequently struck down by the Court of Appeal as forum shopping was itself an attempt to subvert the democratic process, and that the last-minute push to alter the OTP authentication system contributed directly to the difficulties voters experienced on Election Day.
A number of senior lawyers, while declining to take sides publicly, expressed concern that the increasingly personal and public nature of the dispute risked further polarising the Bar at a time when unity was needed to confront broader challenges facing the legal profession and the Nigerian justice system.
The debate also reignited longstanding tensions over the influence of blocs and movements within the NBA particularly the Egbe Amofin group referenced by Agbor and whether such formations have strengthened internal democracy or entrenched factional interests.
With the new NBA leadership now installed and multiple court cases from the election cycle still pending, the exchange between Okutepa SAN and Agbor appears to be the latest chapter in a governance dispute that shows no signs of abating.
In this article