The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has elected Yakubu Maikyau, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as the 31st President of the association.
His emergence follows an election conducted by the legal body which was held virtually from 12.00am on Saturday to 11.59pm of the same day.
What the Chairman of the NBA Electoral Committee is saying
The Chairman of the Electoral Committee who is also a SAN, Professor Ayodele Akintunde, while announcing the result of the poll on Sunday in Abuja, said that Maikyau polled a total of 22, 342 votes to win the election, followed closely by his fellow SAN, Joe-Kyari Gadzama, Chairman of the NBA Securities Agencies Relations Committee, who scored 10, 842 votes.
Mr Taidi Jonathan, a former General Secretary of NBA, came third in the exercise with a total of 1,373 votes.
He said, “A total of 59,392 records were received as people on final voter register, and we were able to upload 59,388 records with four records being invalid contact information.
“A total of 34, 809 votes were cast representing 58.61 per cent of the total number of eligible voters, while 1,314 ballots opened but were not cast.’’
Akintunde stated that some of the common complaints the Electoral Committee Secretariat received included the inability of some lawyers to correctly input their Supreme Court Number (SCN) as instructed, wrong/invalid contact information, no voting links, as well as multiple email reminders.
With the announcement, Maikyau is expected to take over the leadership of the legal body from the outgoing NBA President, Olumide Akpata.
Other elected National officers
- Other national officers elected include Mrs Linda Bala – 1st Vice President, Mr Clement Ugo – 2nd Vice President, and Mrs Amanda Demechi-Asagba – 3rd Vice President.
- Also elected are Mr Adesina Adegbite – General Secretary, Mr Daniel Kip Ka-Ayli – Assistant General Secretary, Ms Chinyere Obasi – National Welfare Secretary, Mr Habeeb Lawal – National Publicity Secretary, Mr Olawole Ajiboye – Assistant Publicity Secretary, and Anze-Bishop Ladidi – Treasurer.
- 20 lawyers were equally elected as members of the NBA General Council to represent the western, eastern, and northern zones.
What the new NBA President is saying
- Maikyau in his acceptance speech, urged all those who contested the election and lost to join his team to make the association better.
- He also advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to come to understudy the technology-driven electoral system of the NBA to conduct free and fair elections in 2023, adding that his administration would be transparent, promote the rule of law, and protect human rights in the country.
- Akpata, whose tenure expires on August 26, made history as the only NBA President in the past 10 years who is not a senior advocate of Nigeria.
