A senior lawyer, Mr Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), was on Friday sworn in as the new President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
Maikyau took over the mantle of leadership of the NBA from Mr Olumide Akpata, whose two-year tenure came to an end on Friday.
The new NBA boss was sworn in as the 31st President of the NBA after he emerged as winner of the NBA presidential election in July, having polled 38,000 votes to defeat other aspirants.
Maikyau was sworn in at the close of activities marking the 62nd Annual General Conference of the NBA at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
He commended his immediate predecessor, Akpata, for remarkable achievements recorded by the NBA in the last two years.
The new NBA President also pledged to sustain the achievements and projects of the Akpata administration and build on them.
He said, “The Nigerian state is passing through a perilous time. There is the insecurity challenge and the situation appears so overwhelming.
“Many Nigerians live below the poverty line. There has been no time that Nigerians have looked towards the Bar than now. Nigerians have been so terrorised, pauperised and traumatized; what is left of this country is the voice of the legal profession. This voice of the legal profession must speak against the terror in the land and this is the charge that my administration will spearhead.”
In his farewell address during the handover ceremony, Akpata said, “The NBA needs to show this country how things should be done and rise above selfish interest.
“We must show our leaders how things should be run in the country. In the NBA, we exist for our members but we must also speak for the general members of society.”
