Aikhunegbe Anthony Malik, SAN Endorses Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN For NBA President 

MAZI AFAM JOSIAH OSIGWE, SAN – OUR CHEF D’OEUVRE

My training and orientation as a lawyer have always predisposed me to showing utmost respect for colleagues who exhibit extremely high levels of intelligence, excellence, proactiveness, innovation, integrity, unwavering loyalty, unwaning love for the Bar and gentlemanly courtesy to colleagues and reverence to the courts. It did not, therefore, come to me as a surprise when I began to naturally gravitate towards Mazi Afam Josiah Osigwe, SAN – one individual who particularly embodies all these traits and gravitas, and perhaps, more.

I have known Afam Osigwe, SAN since 2007. I have watched him in various capacities, situations and circumstances. I have seen him bend over backwards to smoothen [over] very rough situations. I have seen him treat elders at the Bar with utmost respect and honour. I have seen him extend courtesy to and act with integrity towards opposing counsel and the courts. I have seen the amiable and effervescent Silk treat political opponents with the greatest respect and transparency. I have seen the quintessential and cerebral advocate insist on the course of justice, observance of the rule of law and due process, even against his personal interest. I have seen Afam Osigwe, SAN engage with the powers-that-be at various levels, for the good of the Bar.

There is no gainsaying the truth of our present reality as members of Africa’s foremost Bar, that we have arrived at a very critical threshold in our professional destiny. Of late, the esteemed legal profession has been the subject of so much opprobriums, given the tilted public perception of our impact and our good intentions. The need, therefore, to ensure that we thrust the affairs of our Association to the hands of the best of the rest cannot be over emphasized.

In this elections, my vote and unstinted support are for Mazi Afam Josiah Osigwe, SAN. He ticks all the boxes. Indeed, of the three gentlemen jostling for the coveted position of President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe, SAN is arguably the most qualified, most competent, most effective and most efficient. The present odds against the NBA favour his candidature. He is the one who holds for us, the assurances of a better, virile, united, efficient, effective, coordinated and fearless Bar that we so desperately desire. Afam has demonstrable leadership qualities. He has a proven track record of achievements in the numerous leadership positions he has held in the NBA. He has been the chairman of one of the biggest NBA branches. He was the Chief Scribe during the Presidency of Augustine Oyarekhua Alegeh, SAN. It is to the credit of that administration that by dint of the universal suffrage it introduced in 2016, every Nigerian lawyer is able to have a say in the choice/selection of the Bar leadership. Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN may be young in age, but certainly, he is old in hours and possesses the cognate experience, as far as the affairs of the NBA is concerned.

It is for the foregoing reasons and more that I urge all verified Nigerian lawyers, including Mazi Afam Osigwe’s opponents in the contest, to concede to the palpably superior candidature of and vote for Mazi Afam Josiah Osigwe, SAN on Saturday, 20th July, 2024.

Aikhunegbe Anthony Malik, SAN

Abuja, NIGERIA