Mazi Afam Osigwe (SAN) has emerged as the 32nd president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos, Nigeria, News About Nigeria reports.
Okigwe, who is succeeding Yakubu Maikyau (SAN) was sworn in today, August 29, 2024.
Osigwe emerged victorious after polling 20,435 votes, more than half of the votes cast, making him the president-elect of the association of Nigerian lawyers.
He defeated two rivals at the election, which was held on Saturday, and won the presidential election of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), which was held on Saturday.
Osigwe polled more than half of the total ballots cast for the presidential position, to defeat his two rivals.
In his inaugural speech, Osigwe stated that under his watch, the NBA will hold the federal and state governments to account.
Osigwe (SAN) is also the Chairman of the NBA Remuneration Committee and a former general secretary of the NBA and is expected to lead the bar for the next two years, 2024-2026.
Winners also emerged from the elections of nine other national officers.
Zonal representatives of the General Council of of the association from the Eastern, Northern and Western zones were also elected.
The candidacy for the NBA president was restricted to eligible candidates from the Eastern zone of the NBA, whose turn, under the association’s strict zoning arrangement, is to fill the position for the next two years.
The two others regional groups are the Western zone and the Northern zone, which produced the outgoing president in 2022.
A splinter zone, called the Mid-Western zone emerged from the Western region in 2014 to produce Augustine Alegeh, a SAN, as the president, but the group has since retracted to its low-key status within the Western zone.
