A SENIOR Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Yakubu Maikyau, has emerged the 36th President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
Maikyau became the new president of the association after winning an election which was held virtually on Saturday.
The Chairman of the Electoral Committee, Ayodele Akintunde, declared Maikyau the winner of the election while announcing the result of the poll on Sunday.
READ ALSO:
Deborah: NBA postpones 2022 Sokoto conference
NBA describes Umahi’s reaction to court order as executive rascality
NCC denounces fake website offering to unbar SIMs without NIN linkage
Maikyau, who polled a total of 22, 342 votes to win the election, was followed by a fellow SAN, Joe-Kyari Gadzama, who scored 10, 842 votes.
Taidi Jonathan came third with a total of 1,373 votes.
Maikyau is expected to take over from the outgoing NBA President Olumide Akpata.
Other national officers elected are Linda Bala, 1st Vice President; Clement Ugo, 2nd Vice President, and Amanda Demechi-Asagba, 3rd Vice President.
Also elected are Adesina Adegbite, General Secretary; Daniel Kip Ka-Ayli, Assistant General Secretary; Chinyere Obasi, National Welfare Secretary; Habeeb Lawal, National Publicity Secretary; 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.
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.
He also advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to to understudy the technology-driven electoral system deployed by the association for the election.
Maikyau said his administration would be transparent, promote the rule of law, and protect human rights in the country.
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.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.