Alleged Misconduct: Yakubu Maikyau, NBA President Blanks Call To Bar Ceremony

The call to bar ceremony, presided over by the Chairman, Body of Benchers, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), was on Tuesday declined attendance by the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Mikyau (SAN).

According to a statement issued by the NBA President, to attend the ceremony would be to endorse, celebrate or condone a practice that he considered unwholesome and unprofessional, by virtue of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2007.

The decision of the NBA President is coming two days after he wrote a letter to the Chairman of the Body of Benchers, asking him to step aside and not preside over the call to bar ceremony.

He referred to the allegations of professional misconduct against Olanipekun in the wake of the scandalous email by a former partner in his firm, Ms. Adekunbi Ogunde to SAIPEM, an expatriate company claiming that the senior lawyer uses his office as BoB chairman to influence judges and get favourable judgements for his clients.

Mikyau said: “At the meeting of the BoB held on 5 December 2022, I drew the attention of the Chairman to my letter, and called for deliberations on same since it directly impacts on the propriety of the Chairman presiding over the Call to Bar ceremony, but this was not done nor were the hard copies of the letter distributed to the Benchers.

“The meeting of the BoB was adjourned to January 2023, on a date to be fixed by the Chairman. In the circumstances, therefore, having regard to my firm persuasion that the matters raised in my letter should have led the BoB to ask the Chairman to recuse himself in the interest of safeguarding the integrity of the Legal Profession, I am in good conscience unable to attend and participate in the Call to Bar Ceremony.

“The NBA under my leadership remains committed to the protection of the integrity of the Bench and the Bar and will not shirk that responsibility.”

All rights reserved. This material and other digital volumes on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from THE NEWS ACCELERATOR NETWORK.

For advert placement, please contact thenewsacceleratornetwork@gmail.com or 08033599492.