Mr. Yakubu Maikyau who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria has been elected as the 31st President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA.
Maikyau, SAN, polled a total of 22, 342 votes to defeat his major challenger, Chief J. K. Gadzama, SAN, who got 10, 842 votes out of a total of 34, 564 votes that were cast for the position.
The 3rd contender for the NBA top position, Mr. Taidi Gunu, garnered 1, 380 votes, representing 4% of a total number of 34, 554 votes that were cast for the position.
Announcing the election results, 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.
He added 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 SAN 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, 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.
He also advised 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.
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.
