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•New leadership assures a ‘bold Bar”
From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The 33rd President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in the person Mrs. Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has been sworn in.
She took oath of office and allegiance as the second female president of the association, at the NBA 66th Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Friday.
She succecced Mazi Adam Osigwe, SAN, the 32th president at the expiration of of his two-year.
In her augural speech, the new president said she received the position with due humility, pledging to serve with diligence, thanking his predecessor for laying a solid foundation for her success.
Mrs. Badejo-Okusanya that pledged she would be president to the association and not to those that supported her during the election
She urged that the position of president should not be determined by gender, expressing optimism the it would not take such a longer time for another female president to emerge.
The declared that the strength of the Bar must not only be felt in the corridor of power, but by the members and citizenry.
She promised her administration would build a Bar every lawyer would appreciate, adding that the leadership will pursue fair remuneration implementation for lawyers.
The new president further assured that members would have privilege for training, especially exposing them to the trending Artificial Intelligence (AI) ecosystem.
According to her, the new leadership would place priority for the well-being of legal practitioner.
She added that transparency and accountability will be the watchword, saying every member of the Association should know how their money is spent.
She called for constructive criticisms for the sustained growth of the association, imploring all members to condemn the unwholesome practices on electoral processes.
The new president stressed that Nigeria needs a responsible and independent bar, stating that NBA would support judicial independence and would noy be controlled or teleguided in any manner by any individual or group no matter how highly placed against the society.
She declared: “Our loyalty is to justice, rule of law and the citizens, declaring that the association will be influenced by any individual or group, but would be apolitical at all time.
The outgone president, Mazi Adam Osigwe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (NBA), in his valedictory speech, charged his successor to be determined and not allow challenges of the office to detail her.
He reminded her of how tasking the office is, urging her to steer the ship of the association.
According to him, the Bar did not elect a female as president, but elected someone they believe has the capacity to lead the NBA.
He commended all the officials that worked with him, attributing the successes NBA recorded under his tenure to the cooperation he received from them.
He urged members of the Association to support the new president to move the body forward and appealed to them not to victimize the body, appealing for constructive criticisms the would lead NBA to enviable height.
