NBA 2016 elections: Lawyers decide Saturday
Come July 30-31, lawyers in the country under the umbrella of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) will elect a new set of executive members to run their affairs for the next two years. This year’s election is unique because the 17-year-old electoral guidelines of the NBA has been jettisoned for a more robust set of […]
Come July 30-31, lawyers in the country under the umbrella of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) will elect a new set of executive members to run their affairs for the next two years.
This year’s election is unique because the 17-year-old electoral guidelines of the NBA has been jettisoned for a more robust set of rules that allows any Nigerian lawyer who is up-to-date in the payment of his or her annual practicing fee to vote. The mode of electing the national officers shall also be by Internet voting.
By convention since 2000, the NBA has zoned the presidency to three zones – North, East and West. This year it is the turn of the North.
Meet the two leading NBA presidential candidates: Chief Joe Kyari Gadzama SAN and Mr. Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud SAN.
Mahmoud was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 1980. He earned both Bachelor of Law and Master of Law degrees from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, specializing in Company and Labour Relations Law. He has also received varied training in the United States, United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. In 2001 he was conferred with the rank of SAN.
He has been Solicitor General, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Kano State as well as a member of the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC).
Mahmoud is today the Managing Partner of Dikko & Mahmoud. The firm which was established in 1993, has over the years advised clients on simple and complex legal transactions.
Gadzama was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986 and in 1998 he was conferred with the rank of SAN. His law firm has one of the largest pool of lawyers in its employment: at present, there are 40 out of which 20 are juniors. The firm regularly takes in dozens of youth corps members and, on an annual basis accepts a sizeable number of students from the Nigerian Law School on law office attachment.
The J-K Gadzama Annual Lectures, already in its ninth year is one big informal training ground for lawyers considering the wealth of ideas exchanged at the sessions. Equally important is the prestigious J-K Gadzama Award for best graduating student which he instituted at his alma mater, University of Maiduguri and the Nigerian Law School.
Gadzama is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and admitted into the Lincoln’s Inn in England in 2008. He is a Life Bencher and member General Council of the Bar. He was the pioneer chairman NBA’s section of Public Interest and Development Law.