The Expression “Thank You” Is Hardly Sufficient To Convey The Depth Of My Gratitude…”- Maikyau, SAN, OON

My Dear Learned Brother Silk, Seniors and friends(Family),
I was humbled and pleasantly surprised to see the congratulatory messages that you published in the most widely read national dailies, yesterday, 11 October 2022. I am grateful to God for the privilege of having our paths cross and making one big family out of us. The honesty and sincerity in your felicitations and expression of love towards me for this promotion, which obviously came from the Almighty, are palpable. Beautiful as those publications are, what is even more heart-warming for me is the long list of our family members who made elaborate plans and sacrifices to make the publications and also host me and hundreds of guests to a lavish post-award reception.

The expression “thank you” is hardly sufficient to convey the depth of my gratitude, yet I must say “thank you”. From the depth of my heart I say THANK YOU to every one of you, starting from the organisers, and administrators of this platform- Charles Bala, Suleiman Shelleng, Razak Barkindo, Paul Harris SAN, – to all family members for the kindness and thoughtfulness that went into the coordination and execution of this plan. I am particularly humbled and remain in awe of your sacrifices and the generous contributions you made to celebrate our God-given honour.

I am indeed delighted and honoured to have been selected for this National Honour. I am grateful to God Almighty- the Source of all honours, for the privilege of being a recipient of this honour. I thank His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, for finding me worthy of this honour. I must never fail to recognise and appreciate my big brother, His Excellency, the Governor of Kebbi State, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu (a senior member of this family) himself a recipient of the National Honour of CON, for graciously nominating me for consideration for this award. When I initiated the medical outreaches in Kebbi State with the full support of the Kebbi State Government, which drew the participation of medical personnel from Moses Lake Medical Team(MLMT) Washington State, USA, South American countries of Chile and Nicaragua; Medicaid Cancer Foundation Nigeria; University College Hospital(UCH) Ibadan; Prohealth International Nigeria; the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Kebbi and Sokoto Chapters; and Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital(UDUTH) Sokoto, to mention a few, little did I know that our big brother took notes which culminated in his decision to nominate me, precisely on the 22 September 2021, for a National Honour. What is instructive is that when he did so, he was not a recipient of a National Honour himself; a true testament of the altruism and selflessness of our big brother who would promote the elevation of others to positions he may not have himself attained.

This honour of OON, therefore, means a lot to me, but what means even more, is the privilege of the gift of men and women through whom God has favoured me; a family to lean on and a company bonded by love to always go back to. For all these, I am profoundly grateful and I pray that each of you will enjoy favour with God and with men. May God Almighty continue to keep, preserve and provide for us all, as we take turns to celebrate each other to His glory and remain committed to the true ideals of our noble profession of law to the benefit of our nation Nigeria and our teaming members in particular.

God bless you all.

My sincere regards,

YC Maikyau, SAN, OON.
NBA President