Ensure success of 2023 general elections, UN charges NBA

The Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Group, Ms Amina J. Mohammed has urged the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to ensure the success of the 2023 general elections.

Mohammed, in a keynote address she delivered on Monday at the State of the Nation dialogue on Security, Economy and Administration of Justice organised by the NBA in Abuja, urged the association to come out with how to effectively manage conflicts that may arise from the conduct of the general elections.

According to her, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made a giant stride in ensuring a credible, free and fair election in the country and assured of the United Nations’ commitment to ensuring a credible election in Nigeria.

She made case for an increase in the number of women in the politics of the country.

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Yakubu Maikyau (SAN) in his speech said, what the country is experiencing today is a direct result of the legal profession’s abdication of the duty to provide direction and leadership to the people.

Maikyau, who apologised to Nigerians for the abdication added that, as members of the Bar, “we are reputed more for how much fees we charge our clients as opposed to the discharge of our primary call to offer guidance and/or offer ourselves for the advancement of the cause of our country.

He said his administration is strong on ensuring that lawyers observe the highest ethical and professional standards, so as to deliver on their primary call to the people and added that, Nigerians are looking unto to the NBA for a way out of the rather bleak situation in the country.

(Rtd) called on the incoming president to look at using technologies and political will in addressing the security challenges in the country.

Sa’ad, in his contribution, described security as development and development as security and called on the incoming leadership of the country to take the issue of security and the peaceful coexistence of the country seriously.

Panelists on the second panel of discussion on the topic; “Review of the Nation’s Economic Journey in the last decade: Where do we go from now” said, people have the right to ask questions if elected political leaders failed in the management of the country’s resources.

The trio of Dr Babatunde Ajibade (SAN), Mr Wale Fapohunda (SAN) and Mrs Huwaila Mohammed formed the panel that discussed the “Administration of Justice in Nigeria: Problems, Prospects and Possible Solutions” in the NBA State of the Nation Dialogue.

The Presidential candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Maj. Al-Mustapha Hamza (Rtd), Sani Yabaji Yusuf of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Prof. Peter Umeadi of APGA, Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC), Prince Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Dumebi Kachikwu of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Nwanyanwu Daniel Daberechukwu of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).