As the election for the President of the Nigerian Bar Association draws near, ONOZURE DANIA examines the profile of aspirants for the race
The tenure of the incumbent President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), ends soon. Lawyers, on July 20, 2024, will cast their votes to elect the 32nd President of the association.
The NBA has stated that an electronic voting system will be used for its 2024 election. The association explained that this decision would allow members of the association to participate in the election seamlessly from their different locations.
The association’s Electoral Committee, led by Oluseun Abimbola (SAN), disclosed this during the opening of the nomination forms in Abuja on Tuesday.
Abimbola said, “We understand that the NBA has 120 branches across the country, and if we calculate the members of the association, we should be looking at over 150,000.”
Recall that the 2020 election caused disquiet when Olumide Akpata, from Edo State, contested against candidates from the South-West and defeated two members of the Inner Bar – Dr Babatunde Ajibade (SAN) and Dele Adesina (SAN). After the electronic voting came to a close, Akpata, polled 9,891 votes (54.3 per cent of the total vote), while Ajibade scored 4,328 votes (23.8 per cent). Adesina came third with 3,982 votes (21.9 per cent).
Akpata thus became the first member of the outer Bar (non-SAN) to be President of the NBA since Alao Aka-Bashorun in 1989. The election also saw the emergence of three women as national officers in the eight-man national executive. Mrs Joyce Oduah was elected the General Secretary; Esther Nwadialo emerged as the Assistant Secretary, while Mercy Agada became the Treasurer.
For the forthcoming 2024 election, the aspirants for the NBA president are the former NBA General Secretary, Afam Osigwe (SAN); former NBA Lagos State branch chairman, Chukwuka Ikwuazom (SAN); Chairman of NBA Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Tobenna Erojikwe; and immediate-past NBA General Secretary, Mrs Joyce Oduah.
Zeroing in on the credentials of the aspirants, Joyce Oduah, the only woman in the race, is the Principal Partner of Joyce & Okey Oduah LP, a solution-centered commercial and dispute resolution law firm in Lagos and Abuja.
She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Law from the University of Lagos in 1990. She was called to the Nigerian Bar on December 10, 1991, and completed her Master’s degree at the University of Lagos in 1997.
She is from Akwa Ibom State and married to Okey Oduah who is from Anambra State. As this year’s election has been zoned to the South-East, will she get the necessary votes to emerge victorious in the election?
Oduah has been the Vice President West Africa, Pan African Lawyers Union from 2022, the first female to hold that office in PALU since its inception. She is a council member of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association from 2024.
Oduah was the former NBA National Treasurer from 2012 to 2014. The female lawyer is a member of the Federation of International Women Lawyers. She was a council member of the International Bar Association from 2020 to 2022. Oduah is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators, and an associate member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and Notary Public.
She is the President and Founder of Fountain of Life for the Needy Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that provides for the needs of disadvantaged women, children, and youths in Nigeria. Oduah has received numerous awards for her commitment and dedication to the Bar.
Being the only woman among the contenders, she may enjoy the support of women lawyers. According to report, there are less than 50 women who are senior advocates of Nigeria among the over 700 SANs. If Oduah emerges victorious in the election, she will make history as the first elected female NBA president.
Erojikwe, another contender for the race, was born in Luton, England, and is from Nnewi in Anambra State. He attended the University of Nigeria Primary School, Nsukka, and had his secondary school education at the University of Nigeria Secondary School, Nsukka. He thereafter proceeded to the University of Nigeria (Enugu Campus) and obtained his Bachelor of Law degree in 1998. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2000.
He commenced his legal career with The Law Crest LLP, a full-service commercial law firm in Lagos, where he worked for a couple of years before proceeding to the United Kingdom.
With a practice period in England spanning over 10 years, he worked as a solicitor with Alexus Associates and then as a Senior Solicitor (Regeneration) at the London Borough of Barnet. Erojikwe is currently a partner at the TLC and heads the Finance and Energy Practice Group of the firm. He is the Chairman of the Governing Board of the NBA Institute of Continuing Legal Education and served two terms as the Chairman of the Continuing Professional Development Committee of the NBA Lagos branch.
Erojikwe was appointed as a Member of the National Judicial Council in 2022. He has a deep-rooted passion for true leadership and urban regeneration, as evident in his significant roles as a senior solicitor in the London Borough of Barnet and legal adviser to various boards and committees. He is notable for building something unique and continues to inspire and pave the way for the next generation of legal professionals.
As regards Ikwuazom, he heads the taxation practice at ALN Aluko & Oyebode and is a key member of its litigation, dispute resolution, and risk management practice. Ikwuazom renders tax advice to firms in the oil and gas, banking and telecoms sectors. He has also represented the firms in tax litigation before several courts in Nigeria.
Ikwuazom is currently representing four international oil companies in over eight different tax disputes against Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service before the Tax Appeal Tribunal.
He also specialises in commercial litigation and has conducted litigation on an extensive range of issues,
including oil and gas, maritime, intellectual property, telecommunications, taxation, finance and banking, contracts, receivership, and insolvency, both at the trial and appellate levels.
Apart from being the former chairman of the NBA Lagos branch, which is one of the largest branches in terms of voting population, Ikwuazom holds an LLM from Columbia University School of Law, New York after obtaining an LLB from the University of Nigeria, Enugu. Being one of the youngest contenders, he may enjoy the backing of the young lawyers just like the former NBA president, Olumide Akpata.
Osigwe, another contender, graduated from the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus in 1997 and was called to the Bar in 1999. He started legal practice with Chike Chigbue and Co., Abuja Office in 1999 and left in 2002 to found his firm, the Law Forte. In 2007 he obtained a Master’s of Laws Degree (LL.M) from the University of Jos. He obtained a Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration from Keble College, Oxford in 2010. He became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) in 2011.
Osigwe also holds another LLM in Transnational Commercial Practice from the Centre for International Legal Studies, Austria (in collaboration with the Lazarsky University, Poland). He served as a member of the NBA Abuja Law Reporting Committee (2003-2005), and the NBA Abuja Bar Dinner/Awards Committee (2004), Secretary, of the Committee on Continuing Legal Education (2004-2006); Secretary of the Committee on Continuing Legal Education (2008 -2010); Alternate Chairman for the NEC Local Organising Committee hosted by the NBA Abuja Branch (June 2011), among others.
Osigwe was the NBA Publicity Secretary, Abuja Branch from 2006-2008 and served as the Chairman from 2010- 2012. He was the last person to hold office as the Chairman of Unity Bar for the whole of the Federal Capital Territory. He became the first Chairman of Chairmen of NBA branches in the FCT in 2012. He was sworn in as NBA General Secretary in August 2014 and served till August 26, 2016.
Osigwe is very experienced in NBA leadership at branch and national levels. He was a strong contender the last time the office was zoned to the South-East but was disqualified on the eve of the election.
