Dear Colleagues,

Christmas is the season when we commemorate and celebrate the birth of our
Lord Jesus Christ – a fulfilment of the prophesies of about 750 years prior, for
the specific cause stated therein; to redeem mankind from the sinful nature and
its consequences, occasioned by the fall through Adam which led to spiritual
death – separation from God (Adam was separated from God). By this, all men
took on the nature of sin and suffered spiritual death.

But God, through Jesus Christ, in His death, burial and resurrection
accomplished the redemptive, reconciliatory work and by that, gave to all
mankind the gift of eternal life. This gift, when accepted establishes the
reconciliation between divinity and humanity; transforms and translates one
from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of God’s Dear Son, Jesus Christ.
This gift of eternal life is primarily given for the purpose of bringing all men to
Christ and to the knowledge of the truth.

We must therefore graduate from our traditional celebration of Christmas,
where we focus on the festivities, merriments, and celebrations, to making the
season a time of stock-taking; assessing the use to which we have put the gift of
eternal life that we have in-Christ.
Our nation, no doubt, is passing through difficult times. The peace of the nation
is greatly challenged, the economy is struggling despite huge human and natural
resources at our disposal as a nation. We need purposeful leadership to chart the
course for rebuilding our nation. We must, without abdicating our civic
responsibilities and the need to apply ourselves fully from the human standpoint
to the business of recovering, reforming, and repositioning our nation, pay very
close attention to the command in the scripture, that we pray for our leaders
without any qualification. The combination of our honest, purposeful, and
sincere work as a people, with the discharge of our divine obligation to pray for
our leaders for wisdom, courage, boldness, and discernment, will no doubt lead
us to the productive nation that we all desire to build.

As we go into the New Year, 2024, let us do so with a renewed vigour, energy,
focus and hope for a better nation. We must continue to civilly engage and
demand for the discharge of all constitutional responsibilities entrusted on our
leaders for the benefit of the people of this nation. Nigeria must succeed,
Nigeria cannot fail under our watch, and I call on all Nigerians to brace up for
the challenges ahead. Let us make the necessary sacrifices for the future of our
nation. On their own part, our leaders must from their actions, convince
Nigerians that the sacrifices and sufferings of today are to bring about a better
future for us and the generation to come.
To all my colleagues, let us commit to our primary call of giving direction to the
people and advancing the cause of Nigeria, as our default mode to Nigeria’s
nation building.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a glorious 2024 and beyond.

Long Live the Nigerian Bar Association!

Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!

May God Bless the Good and Hardworking People of Nigeria!!!

Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN
PRESIDEN

 




Click on the Link below to Download
2023 CHRISTMAS DAY MESSAGE