983 candidates fail 2026 Bar resit as failure rate rises to 50.3%

A total of 983 candidates have failed the May 2026 Bar Final Resit Examination, representing 50.3 per cent of the 1,955 candidates who sat for the examination.

The Council of Legal Education (CLE) disclosed this in a statement issued on Monday by its Secretary and Director of Administration, Aderonke Osho.

The council said the results were approved at its third-quarter hybrid meeting held on Thursday.

According to the CLE, 885 candidates passed the examination, while 55 obtained conditional passes. Another 32 candidates were absent, while the results of 19 candidates were withheld.

The council said the examination recorded an overall pass rate of 45.3 per cent, meaning that 54.7 per cent of the candidates either failed or did not obtain the prescribed pass mark.

The latest result represents a significant deterioration compared with the 2025 Bar Final Resit Examination, when 608 out of 1,675 candidates failed, translating to a 36.3 per cent failure rate.

The 2026 failure rate therefore increased by 14 percentage points, or about 38.6 per cent, compared with the previous year’s resit.

The development means more than half of the candidates who took the 2026 resit examination did not meet the required standard for a full pass.