The election of Mr. Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, as the new leader of the Nigerian Bar Association at the weekend, is gradually shaping what can be dubbed the avant-garde era of the Bar, an evolution that began with the revolution that brought in, the outgoing President of the lawyers’ body, Mr. Olumide Akpata.
Though unlike Akpata, Maikyau is of the inner bar as a Silk, but the President-elect, like the outgoing incumbent, dumped his more established and better-known senior competitor, J.K Gadzama, to stroll into the finishing line.
Just like Akpata too, the younger generation of the Bar, with their numerical advantage, also appeared to have sided with Maikyau, considering the rash of endorsements garnered by Gadzama, from prominent senior lawyers, like Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, and many others, especially those who have been wearing the rank, for decades.
But the younger elements saw in Maikyau, a modern, charismatic leader that should replace the outgoing, who remains very popular with his large base of Bar ‘rebels’ that powered him to a famous victory, despite running against an established legal powerhouse in Deacon Dele Adesina, SAN.
These ‘progressive’ elements are likely to see Maikyau as a continuation of the non-conformist leadership Akpata has provided, by speaking strongly on national issues and taking on institutions, on behalf of the public and in public interest.
Nigerian Tribune also gathered that Gadzama was a victim of his own past alignments and decisions, within the association, which came to hurt him in the election. A couple of past presidents of the association, were said to have been staunchly against him, over his past choices and they reportedly worked against him, to give Maikyau, an advantage.
Ultimately, Maikyau recorded a landslide against the perennial candidate, who lost his third attempt to lead the Bar, at the turn of the North. In 2010, Gadzama, lost to J.B Daudu, SAN. In 2016, when it was the turn of the North again, he lost to Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud, SAN, popularly known as A.B Mahmoud, in an election he was thought to be awaiting a coronation. 12 years after his first foray into the leadership contest, the 61-year-old, Borno State indigene, has again lost to 57-year-old Maikyau.
At the level of the establishment of the Bar, there is said to be a gang-up against Gadzama and a class action of sort, to ensure he never leads the body, using the North’s turn. The said gang-up, according to a top NBA source, was cooked by mainly top Northern lawyers in the NBA hegemony, for his daring attitudes of the past, especially his decision to run the 2010 contest against Daudu, who was the favourite and anointed of the North then.
Going to court after losing to Mahmoud in 2016 in an election Gadzama was the assumed frontrunner, reportedly sealed his fate, with the caucus against him, reportedly concluding that he would remain a perennial loser, as long as he shows interest in the leadership position.
Other senior lawyers from the North who should ordinarily be sympathetic to his aspiration due to past affinity, especially during their days at the Law School and professional engagements, were said to have been put off by his insistence to contest against JB Daudu, when the mood of the zone, was obviously not in his favour.
Multiple Bar sources told Nigerian Tribune that he rebuffed the persuasion to step down for JB because he was banking on the wholesale endorsement of the Northern Bar, which eventually didn’t come as expected. The zone eventually split into two, with the majority, ending up supporting the eventual winner.
The attempt to dissuade him, from running the weekend poll in which, he was again, underwhelming in performance, was also reportedly rebuffed. A Senior Advocate from the South, told Nigerian Tribune that he explained to Gadzama that he should see himself now as an elder at the Bar and should not seek the presidency again. The Borno-born lawyer discountenanced the friendly plea. While the friend could not convince other common friends to give him their votes, he (the SAN) said he had no choice but to vote JK, as Gadzama is fondly called, though he knew he would lose the election, because they had been friends for decades.
It was learnt that until and except JK reconciles with northern power brokers at the Bar, he may not smell the presidency, as they had vowed. A friend of JK believed the weekend election, would be his last, though the candidate himself, is yet to publicly comment on his failed third run.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that Gadzama is seen more among top Northern lawyers, as the gadfly of the zone, hence the said ongoing class action against him, especially his decision to sue over Mahmoud’s election in 2016.
In a suit he tabled before the Federal High Court in Abuja, Gadzama hired 11 Senior Advocates to prosecute his allegations of electoral infractions against NBA.
In all, Gadzama sued 15 stakeholders of the Bar including then outgoing president, Austin Alegeh (SAN), Mahmoud and even NBA’s ICT partner, Grace Infotech Limited.
While Mahmoud was declared the winner with a total of 3055 delegates’ votes, Gadzama was credited with 2384 votes. The loser however claimed in his Statement of Claim before the court that contrary to the result declared by the 8th respondent, at the close of voting at 12:00 midnight on Sunday, 31st July, 2016, the result contained on the official voting domain showed that he scored 2,963, while Mahmoud got 2,465.
The score, he said, was as discovered by his ICT experts, who conducted forensic audit of the poll.
AB Mahmoud went on to serve his full term of two years, but a major decision was said to have been taken by some major stakeholders that Gadzama should never be allowed to come close to the presidency again, whenever it’s North’s turn. This “decision” possibly reflected in the difference between the votes garnered by the eventual winner, Maikyau and Gadzama. With more than double the votes of Gadzama, 22,342 votes to 10,842, Maikyau roundly and soundly defeated Gadzama, possibly to leave no room for the veteran contestant to mount any judicial challenge this time. As of press time, JK is yet to make his next course of action known.
How the election was won and lost
Though both Gadzama and Maikyau are Senior Advocates, there is a huge generational gap between them. While JK was appointed into the inner Bar in 1998, his conqueror, Maikyau, is of 2011 Class, leaving a gap of 13 years. However, those reportedly against Gadzama are Senior Advocates of his generation, making Maikyau, a beneficiary of a strife that began before he was appointed into the prestigious circle of SANs. It is also on record that in 1998 when Gadzama was taking the Silk, his conqueror was just eight years at the Bar. But Maikyau defeated the senior colleague, to emerge the 31st President of the Association, while the third contender, who is of the outer bar, Mr. Taidi Gunu, got just 1,380 votes, unlike two years back, when the outgoing president, Olumide Akpata, as a non-SAN, upset the two Senior Advocates in the race, especially the better-known, Dele Adesina, SAN.
Announcing the election results on Sunday, Chairman of the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA), Mr. Ayodele Akintunde (SAN) disclosed that out of a total of 59,392 records of eligible voters from the NBA database, 59, 388 records were cleared to vote, adding that, 1,346 emails that were sent out to some of the eligible voters bounced back.
He also disclosed that only 34,809 lawyers, representing 58. 61 percent of the membership strength of the association, participated in the election, that was conducted electronically.
The process however encountered some challenges, which bordered on the inability of some lawyers to correctly input their Supreme Court Number as instructed, wrong or invalid contact information, no voting links, as well as multiple email reminders.
Despite the challenges, all the officers of the Association, were elected, including, Mrs Linda Bala as 1st Vice President, Mr. Clement Ugo as 2nd Vice President, Mrs. Amanda Demechi-Asagba as the 3rd Vice President, Mr. Adesina Adegbite as General Secretary, Mr. Daniel Kip Ka-Ayli as Assistant General Secretary, Ms. Chinyere Obasi as National Welfare Secretary, Mr Habeeb Lawal as National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olawole Ajiboye as Assistant Publicity Secretary and Anze-Bishop Ladidi as the Treasurer.
20 lawyers were equally elected as members of the NBA General Council to represent the Western, Eastern and Northern zones.
YC’s message and e-voting
The President-elect, popularly known as YC (Yakubu Chonoko) is asking the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to come learn a thing from the NBA, in election conduct, in his praise for his soon-to-be predecessor-in-office, Akpata.
He urged INEC to leaverage on technology in such a way that electorate across the country can cast their votes from the comfort of their homes, as was done by the NBA in the election he described as free, fair and credible. He subsequently promised that, NBA under his leadership, would continue to speak truth to power and, do all within its mandate, to promote the rule of law and protect human rights in the country.
In his remarks, Akpata, wanted Gadzama and other losers to be good losers. He also revealed that ahead of the 2023 general elections, NBA has mandated its public interest litigation committee to approach INEC to verify an allegation that it allowed the substitution of names of candidates that did not participate in primary election of their political parties.
“We will go and find out how true the allegation is and take it up from there”, he added.
In past years, NBA had elected its leadership by a system of delegates drawn from all branches of the Bar, with each branch, being entitled to 10 delegates. Branches also got additional delegates for every 100 members. Those entitled to vote as delegates then, were elected officers of the NBA, all living lawyers (excluding judges), who are members of the Body of Benchers, Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and all members of the expanded National Executive Committee (NEC) of the association.
But all changed, with the introduction of the electronic voting system, about seven years ago, which expanded voting eligibility, to every registered and financially up-to-date lawyer.
In the information reeled out by the electoral committee, lawyers who voted in the election had their names on the final Voters Register, which was published.
Details for the voting were also sent to the Email and Phone Number attached to lawyers’ profile on the Final Eligible Voters List published by the electoral body.
The lawyers were able to cast their vote from their internet-enabled phone, computer, laptop or tablet on election day.
Also, a private and personalised voting link was sent to the email and phone number attached to their profile as an eligible voter. Voters were to just click on a link, ecnba.ng, which took them, to an election page on their web browser window, after which they were taken immediately to a page where they input their Supreme Court Number, which served as their password.
They were then, taken to the ballot selection screen which had the list of positions along with those that contested for them. There, they selected their preferred candidate for each position with an option, to abstain.
After completing the selection process, they were to click on Continue, to proceed, to the Verification Page, where the ballot was to be shown back to the voters, with the selections made. This was to give an opportunity, to do a careful review, before clicking Submit Ballot, to finalise their participation. After sending in their votes, they received an email, confirming that they had completed the voting process.
The election, according to participants, was adjudged free and fair and ease to handle, with the use of technology.
Full report, except headline, culled from the Nigerian Tribune
