The new President of the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA), Mr Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), was on Friday sworn in to take over the mantle of leadership of the association from Mr Olumide Akpata, whose two-year tenure came to an end on Friday.
Maikyau, who was sworn in as the 31st President of the NBA, had in July emerged winner of the NBA presidential election, garnering 38,000 votes.
He was sworn in on Friday at the close of activities marking the 62nd Annual General Conference of the association held at Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The new NBA President commended his predecessor, Akpata, for the giant strides recorded by the NBA in the last two years.
He pledged not only to sustain the achievements and projects of the Akpata administration but also to build on them.
While expressing displeasure against the spate of banditry, kidnapping, killings and cattle rustling bedeviling the country, Maikyau urged the Federal Government to show commitment to the protection of lives and properties in the country.
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 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 address during the handover ceremony, Akpata said the NBA must continue to provide leadership in the country.
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 NBA, we exist for our members but we must also speak for the general members of society.”
