Christmas Day Message From The President Of The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN
Dear Colleagues,
Christmas is the season when we commemorate and celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ – a fulfilment of the prophesies of about 750 years prior, for the specific cause stated therein; to redeem mankind from the sinful nature and its consequences, occasioned by the fall through Adam which led to spiritual death – separation from God (Adam was separated from God). By this, all men took on the nature of sin and suffered spiritual death.
But God, through Jesus Christ, in His death, burial and resurrection accomplished the redemptive, reconciliatory work and by that, gave to all mankind the gift of eternal life. This gift, when accepted establishes the reconciliation between divinity and humanity; transforms and translates one from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of God’s Dear Son, Jesus Christ. This gift of eternal life is primarily given for the purpose of bringing all men to Christ and to the knowledge of the truth.
We must therefore graduate from our traditional celebration of Christmas, where we focus on the festivities, merriments, and celebrations, to making the season a time of stock-taking; assessing the use to which we have put the gift of eternal life that we have in-Christ.
Our nation, no doubt, is passing through difficult times. The peace of the nation is greatly challenged, the economy is struggling despite huge human and natural resources at our disposal as a nation. We need purposeful leadership to chart the course for rebuilding our nation. We must, without abdicating our civic responsibilities and the need to apply ourselves fully from the human standpoint to the business of recovering, reforming, and repositioning our nation, pay very close attention to the command in the scripture, that we pray for our leaders without any qualification. The combination of our honest, purposeful, and sincere work as a people, with the discharge of our divine obligation to pray for our leaders for wisdom, courage, boldness, and discernment, will no doubt lead us to the productive nation that we all desire to build.
As we go into the New Year, 2024, let us do so with a renewed vigour, energy, focus and hope for a better nation. We must continue to civilly engage and demand for the discharge of all constitutional responsibilities entrusted on our leaders for the benefit of the people of this nation. Nigeria must succeed, Nigeria cannot fail under our watch, and I call on all Nigerians to brace up for the challenges ahead. Let us make the necessary sacrifices for the future of our nation. On their own part, our leaders must, from their actions, convince Nigerians that the sacrifices and sufferings of today are to bring about a better future for us and the generation to come.
To all my colleagues, let us commit to our primary call of giving direction to the people and advancing the cause of Nigeria, as our default mode to Nigeria’s nation building.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a glorious 2024 and beyond.
Long Live the Nigerian Bar Association!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!
May God Bless the Good and Hardworking People of Nigeria!!!
Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN
PRESIDENT
