When Kebbi State-born Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau is sworn in as the 31st president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) at next month’s Annual General Conference (AGC) in Lagos, he will join a long line of members of the Bar who clinched the position at the first time of asking.
Maikyau stunned many not just because he won the presidential race at last Saturday’s NBA national elections against formidable opponents, but also because he recorded a landslide victory with an astonishing 64.6 per cent of the votes cast.
The presidential race featured three lawyers – Maikyau, another senior lawyer Chief Joe-Kyari “J.K.” Gadzama, SAN, and Mr. Jonathan Taidi.
All three are from the Northern Bar, the region to which the presidency was zoned. The Northern Bar cuts across the 19 northern states in line with a tradition that has kept the association going since the crisis that rocked it three decades ago.
The incumbent Olumide Akpata is from the Southwest.
Gadzama from Borno State was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986. He is the principal partner at J-K Gadzama LLP, a law firm based in Abuja. A seasoned litigation and commercial lawyer, Gadzama was elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 1998. He has also been a member of the National Executive Committee of the NBA since 1998.
Gadzama was no stranger to NBA politics. Popular, sociable and successful, he has been a foremost Bar veteran for decades. The 2022 election was his third attempt to lead the Bar.
Many lawyers were shocked in 2016 when Mr. AB Mahmoud, SAN, was announced the winner of the NBA top position instead of Gadzama who, it was felt, was more popular among the electorate.
Taidi, like Akpata, is also an outer, but top Bar man as well as an activist and humanitarian.
Humble and soft-spoken, Taidi is the immediate past General Secretary of the association. He became the General Secretary of the NBA in 2018 after surprisingly winning a keenly-contested election by a wide margin.
Called to Bar in 2001, Taidi is a leader of the NBA Minna Branch where he once served as chairman and secretary.
He was born in 1969 at Kakpi, Baro District of Agaie Local Government Area of Niger State
For some observers, Gadzama – with his experience and popularity – seemed to be destined to become third-time lucky.
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However, soft-spoken Maikyau caught the imagination of many lawyers: old and young, especially those impressed with his performance as pioneer chairman of the NBA Welfare Committee, under the Olumide Akpata-led administration.
The election
Interest in the election was huge within the ranks of the 197,105 lawyers produced in the country as of July 2021, practising in 125 branches across the country. It was also high among other stakeholders and non-lawyers because the NBA is regarded as probably the most-influential professional association in the country, with many Nigerians looking to it for direction on the country’s constitutional democracy.
The positions contested for, according to the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA), included President, 1st Vice-President, 2nd Vice-President, 3rd Vice-President, General Secretary, Assistant General Secretary, Treasurer, Welfare Secretary, Publicity Secretary, Assistant Publicity Secretary and General Council of the Bar.
The elections were held online from 12:am on Saturday to 11:59pm on the same day. It featured 59,392 lawyers who were cleared to vote – the highest ever in NBA history – according to the ECNBA.
Landslide result
Maikyau polled 22,342 votes representing 64.6 per cent of votes cast for the office of the president, while Gadzama polled 10,842 votes and Taidi scored 1,380.
ECNBA Chairman Richard Ayodele Akintunde, SAN, who announced the results at a hybrid briefing on Sunday, confirmed that the total number of people on the final voter register stood at 59,392 while about 3,000 were disenfranchised due to the inability to verify their data.
“A total of 59,392 records were received as people on the 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,” he said.
He added that 34,564 votes were cancelled for the office of president, with 245 abstentions.
Opportunity to serve
In his acceptance speech, Maikyau urged all those who contested the election and lost to join his team to make the association better.
The NBA president-elect also advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to understudy the technology-driven electoral system of the NBA to conduct free and fair elections in 2023.
Maikyau said his administration would be transparent, promote the rule of law, and protect human rights.
“I am grateful to the membership of the Nigerian Bar Association for entrusting me with the mandate to lead the Bar for the next two years.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as the 31st President of the NBA. l also congratulate other Executive Committee Members- Elect of the NBA; with God’s divine wisdom, I believe we will take the Nigerian Bar forward during our tenure. Together, we have done it! Together, we will do more,” he added.
The man Maikyau
Maikyau obtained his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Degree in 1989 from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and was called to the Bar on December 12, 1990.
After his mandatory National Youth Service Corps programme in 1991, he joined the law firm of Messrs. Danladi Bamaiyi and Company at Sokoto, where he worked for 13 years and rose through the ranks to become the Head of Chambers. In 2003, he founded his law firm, Y. C. Maikyau & Co. Maikyau is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA), he has served the Bar in many capacities; he was a member of the NBA Legal Profession Regulation Review Committee (LPRRC), which made far-reaching recommendations for the reform of the profession culminating in the Legal Profession Regulation Bill.
He is the pioneer and current chairman of the NBA Welfare Committee, the chairman of the Committee of Law and Individual Rights of the Section on Legal Practice. He had served as a member of the Welfare Committee set up by Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN, as NBA president to alleviate the hardship caused to NBA members, particularly young members, following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Credit : THE NATION.
