YC Maikyau, the ‘Oputa Panel hero’ who intends to lead the bar

Nigerian Lawyers are warming up across the country to elect the next president of the Nigerian Bar Association (“NBA”). The NBA is not just an amalgam of Lawyers qualified to practice law in Nigeria, It has become the most influential professional Association in the country, with enormous responsibilities that anchor for the most part, the aspirations of our constitutional democracy. The NBA Presidency is thus, a no mean office and one may not be wrong if the occupant is described as a mini Nigerian President with about 125 Branches scattered across the length and breadth of the country under his superintendence. Not to mention the broad responsibility to the Nigerian populace as circumscribed in the Association’s foundational documents.

A two-year nonrenewable term, at about this time in 2020, the Bar-polity, and indeed the country at large, was charged as the Association witnessed a historic contest for the office by the triumvirate of Mr. Dele Adesina, SAN, Dr. Babatunde Ajibade SAN, and Mr. Olumide Akpata. Whilst the first two were Senior Advocates of distinction, the latter was in a manner of speaking, an outlier who dared to challenge the status quo. In the entire history of the Association, only a handful of non-Senior Advocates had had the good fortune of leading the Association. Olumide Akpata’s ambition was therefore a poke into the eyes of the Establishment.

His campaign however caught on with the younger segment of the Bar, who incidentally were in the majority. Before long, it had spiraled into a national movement so much that one saw Doctors, Engineers, professionals of other disciplines, and indeed Nigerians at large, advocating a  #BarThatWorksForAll which was the Olumide Akpata campaign slogan.

Indeed, even before the first ballot, it was clear to all and sundry that the election was a formality exercise. Olumide Akpata would emerge the 30th President of the Association, in circumstances that have made him a person of interest as far as electioneering in Nigeria is concerned. The rest, as they say, is history today.

However, with the days of the Administration now numbered,  attention has turned to who takes over from Olu, as he is popularly called.  The office of the President is zoned to the Northern Bar that cut across the 19 States of the federation in line with a tradition that has kept the Association going since the crisis that rocked it 3 decades ago. Three Candidates have been cleared by the Electoral Committee of the NBA, led by Ayo Akintunde, SAN, namely, Chief Joe Kyari Gadzama SAN; Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau SAN, and Mr. Jonathan Taidi,  a former General Secretary of the Association.

While the contest in a way mimics the 2020 race, being amongst two Senior Advocates,  and a non-Senior Advocate of Nigeria, there are no indications that the upset of 2020 would be repeated for many reasons, which falls outside the scope of this intervention. Watchers of Bar politics are somewhat convinced that by July 16th, Nigerian lawyers would be making a choice between YC and JK.

Of the two,  Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, SAN from all indications look the most likely to emerge. For a campaign that has struggled to hit top gear,  the Kebbi-born soft-spoken Silk appear to have caught the imagination of Nigerian lawyers: old and young, who see him as a prototype of the new and emerging Bar-leadership which Olumide Akpata typifies.

Unlike his adversary, J. K. Gadzama-SAN, who has struggled to shirk his Establishment-toga at a time when the Bar is embroiled in a cold war with an influential power bloc prepared to undermine the authority of the over 60-year-old Association, Y.C represents the New Order who is committed to returning the Bar to its real owners: the generality of the Bar community. Again, whereas JK would be running for the office for the third time, having run and lost in controversial elections, particularly the 2016 election, in circumstances which some persons argue he’s yet to put behind him,  Y.C represents a breath of fresh air and one who would not deploy the exalted office to probably settle old scores.

As a young lawyer of about nine years post qualifying experience, providence thrust Maikyau on the National stage as a Counsel in the Human Rights Investigation Commission of Nigeria-Oputa Panel,  set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 as the country returned to democratic rule. It was almost certain that his career was written in the stars. A dozen year later, he was taking the coveted oath as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and with that, attained the pinnacle of legal practice in Nigeria through sheer hard work and distinction of character.

A cerebral Advocate of unarguably the first rank, in Re:Abdullahi (2018) 14 NWLR (Pt.1639) 272, he proved the elasticity of the law by convincing the Supreme Court of Nigeria to reach a novel decision, allowing the substitution of a deceased appellant in a criminal case with the administrators of his estate for the purpose of preserving the civil rights in his estate. A locus classicus that has caused a welcome paradigm shift in Nigeria’s legal jurisprudence on the subject.

Through his “Building a Dynamic Bar” mantra, Y. C acknowledges the need for the Bar to pull in one direction whilst consolidating the gains of what would be the Akpata years. His 25-paged manifesto tells the story of a modest and pragmatic reformer who understands that sustainability, to be organic, must be incremental. The dynamism he speaks is one that would uplift the Bar beyond its current heights to the stratospheric altitude where it would meet the needs of the people it is supposed to serve.

“The NBA under my leadership will not only be one, big, strong, and inclusive Bar; it will look for/go after its members to bring them into the fold. This shall be done from the understanding that it is the responsibility of the NBA to look after the general welfare and wellbeing of its members – after the similitude of the “Good Shepherd”. We shall seek out each member, bring them into the fold and deliver the benefit of membership to the entire body. We understand that it is only in identifying with its members that the NBA can appreciate their individual/collective needs and forge the required corporate resolve that will put the NBA in a position to discharge its constitutional objectives”, he writes in his manifesto.

With the benefit of hindsight, his antecedents have no doubt prepared him, even if unconsciously, for the thankless job of leading the Bar. Having served the Association, and the Nation at large, in several capacities, it is an undertaking that would bring to bear his leadership and administrative skills that have seen him excel both as an accomplished professional and a family man. Under his watch as the Pioneer Chairman of the NBA Welfare Committee, under the Olumide Akpata Administration, Nigerian lawyers have had a taste of what is to come, in the event he emerges the 31st President of the NBA. Through programmes such as the NBA-Law Pavillion partnership midwifed by his Committee, the NBA-NHIS scheme, and the NBA-Leadway Improved Life-Insurance scheme,  there is prima facie evidence that a Y.C Maikyau-led NBA would prioritize the welfare of lawyers and explore more avenues of making Bar-membership a value-driven dynamic.

As Olumide Akpata prepares to handover the baton having run a good race, as far as one can gather from the general sentiments in the Bar, a great burden now rests on the shoulders of the re-awakened members of the profession who by the choices they make on July 16th, would be determining the course and trajectory of their much-admired profession and Association.

In this wise, the emerging consensus is that Y.C. Maikyau, SAN does not only foot the bill. It is also widely acclaimed; he’s the missing piece of the continuity jigsaw. But time will tell.

A Lawyer and Public Interest Commentator, Raymond Nkannebe can be reached via [email protected]. He tweets @RaymondNkannebe