All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had been central to the growth and sustenance of democracy, justice and the rule of law in the country.

The former Lagos governor said this in a congratulatory message he sent to the 31st President of the association, Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau (SAN), and members of the Bar’s executive committee yesterday in Abuja.

The message, sent through his media office, also said no nation can survive for long in the absence of a well-functioning and organised legal profession.

The statement reads: “The Bar is an important institution, central to the growth and sustenance of Nigeria’s democracy, justice and the rule of law. Its members are the sworn defenders of our entire system of justice; the edifice undergirding our development, government accountability and respect for fundamental human rights.

“No nation can survive for long in the absence of these essential values or, therefore, without a well-functioning and organised legal profession.”

Congratulating the new leadership of the Bar, Asiwaju Tinubu said: “I congratulate Y. C. Maikyau on his emergence as the 31st President of the NBA, following the term expiration of the administration of Olumide Akpata.

“The commendations and peer endorsements that informed his election and have since trailed his official swearing-in underscore Maikyau’s professional success as a legal practitioner and his suitability for the elevated position with which he has been entrusted.

“Such testimonials inspire absolute confidence in his capacity to fulfil his pledge to take the NBA towards its brightest future.

“I, once more, commend and congratulate Y. C. Maikyau and the new executive leadership of the NBA. Their character and reputation have led to this moment of triumph and the absolute trust of their learned peers.

“I urge them all to maintain a commitment to the values I have espoused above and to the task of carrying the legal profession onto ever greater heights over the course of the next two years.

“I wish the new NBA administration the very best in all its future endeavours and pray, earnestly, that under their stewardship, the ideal of the legal profession as the last best hope of the common man remains true and alive in our nation.”

THE NATION