By Raymond Nkannebe
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I met Olumide Akpata for the first time on the 6th of February, 2018 at the Harbour Point Centre, Victoria Island. I was among the 50 young lawyers sponsored by the NBA-SBL to the 2-day conference on Medical Ethics organized by the Bey-Health Institute in collaboration with the NBA-SBL while Akpata held sway as the Chairman of the business law forum. It can be said that I took an instant liking for him with the energy he exuded throughout the 2-day well attended conference and the passion he betrayed in the career development of young lawyers during the mentorship session dedicated for the young lawyers sponsored to the conference. Akpata spoke like a visionary who had a good knowledge of the challenges facing our profession with a clear sense of what needed to be done to turn it around.
I went away from that gathering with a positive impression of him, all of which was to be consolidated after looking him up on Google, and following his bar-related activities in the years that followed. And so when I learnt that he’d be vying for the leadership of the NBA, it was almost natural that I’d vouch for his candidacy. I am not alone in this conviction. Several sets of young lawyers have expressed similar impression of him.
It is difficult to talk about Olumide Akpata without mentioning the success story of Templars Law, a law practice he helped to build from ground zero into one of the most competitive and thriving law practices in Nigeria and arguably the West African sub region; which success story continues to be an eloquent tribute to his administrative and leadership capacity. At a time when the legal profession goes through a transitory process with influx of technology disrupting the traditional models of law practice and unearthing new and emerging areas of the old trade, there is no question that the legal profession in Nigeria must join the global procession if we are to be relevant in a world changing at the speed of light. None of this can happen without the right kind of leadership. I have taken some time to audit the credentials, antecedents and perceived world view of the other aspirants, and while I note they are ordinarily qualified for the leadership of an association like ours, they do not embody the ideal, vision and needed world view to curate the NBA at this peculiar time. I am convinced that different epoch in history calls for different kind of leadership. And the leadership question of our association today, calls for an Akpata response. Let me give a picture of that kind of leadership. It is one that is young, dynamic, visionary, inspiring and people-driven. This is what the Akpata candidacy represents and it is almost needless to state the point that this is the kind of leadership that the NBA needs today to leapfrog it with the comity of other progressive bar associations.
On the above premises, I have no hesitations in coming to the dispassionate conclusion that he stands tall amongst the other candidates for the thankless job, hence why I unreservedly endorse him for the 30th president of our beloved association which clearly has come of age at 60, and must be seen to work for its members in particular, and the society at large.
Raymond is a Lagos based legal practitioner. He tweets @Raynkah
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