By Adedapo Adesanya
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Yakubu Maikyau, has emerged as the 31st President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
Mr Maikyau was named the new NBA president following an election of the legal body which was held virtually.
The Chairman of the Electoral Committee, who is also a SAN, Professor Ayodele Akintunde, announced the outcome of the exercise on Sunday in Abuja.
He said Mr Maikyau polled a total of 22,342 votes to win the election and was followed closely by his fellow SAN, Mr Joe-Kyari Gadzama, who garnered 10,842 votes while Mr Taidi Jonathan came third in the exercise with a total of 1,373 votes.
Following the declaration, Mr Maikyau is expected to take over the leadership of the legal body from the outgoing NBA President, Mr Olumide Akpata.
Other national officers elected were Mrs Linda Bala – 1st Vice President, Mr Clement Ugo – 2nd Vice President, and Mrs Amanda Demechi-Asagba – 3rd Vice President.
Also elected were 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.
About 20 lawyers were equally elected as members of the NBA General Council to represent the western, eastern, and northern zones.
Professor Akintunde disclosed that the records of 59,388 out of a total of 59,392 eligible voters on the NBA database were okayed to vote, adding that while 1,346 emails that were sent out to some of the eligible voters bounced back, 34,809 lawyers, representing 58.61 per cent of the membership strength of the association participated in the election that was conducted electronically.
The senior lawyer 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, and no voting links, as well as multiple email reminders.
In his acceptance speech, the NBA president-elect urged all those who contested the election and lost to join his team to make the association better, advising 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.
Speaking on his plans as the president, Mr Maikyau said his administration would be transparent, promote the rule of law, and protect human rights in the country.
Mr Akpata, whose tenure expires on August 26, on his part, said the NBA has mandated its Public Interest Litigation Committee to approach the INEC to verify an allegation that it allowed the substitution of names of candidates that did not participate in the primary election of their political parties and take it up from there.
