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THE NATION TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2014
LEGAL OPINION A lawyer IKE UKO in this piece pays tribute to the late Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Chike Offodile.
Tribute to Chike Offodile (1924-2014)
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HEN earlier in the month, the news of the passing on of a great jurist and cultural icon Chike Offodile broke, most people, who knew him mourned the passage of the great man. I first met Chief Chike Offodile in 2000 at Sheraton Hotel and Towers Abuja, during the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association. I was a candidate for the office of Assistant Publicity Secretary in that year’s election. Since all senior advocates were automatic delegates, I approached any such senior lawyer I could reach. I approached the genial old man and sought his support for my ambition. He listened to me, wished me well and promised to vote for me. I was excited and thanked him. It was unbelievable that such a great man that was Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice as far back as 1984-1985 could be so approachable. That encounter led me to know more of him. As a boy growing up in Onitsha Urban Town in the 70s, one cannot but hear of his name as one of the great lawyers in town. But nothing more than that except seeing lawyers in their trade dress as one went to school in the morning passing through the High Court. I discovered that the legal icon attended
the great Christ the King College, Onitsha, taught briefly at St. Mary’s Primary School and worked for about 10 years at the then post and Telegram Department (fore-runner to NITEL) before he travelled to England to study law. He qualified in 1959 and came back to Nigeria same year to enroll as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. There was no Nigerian Law School then and newly qualified lawyers merely enrolled in the Supreme Court and go straight to practice. Chike Offodile practised under another giant of the legal profession, Chuba Ikpeazu, the illustrious father of Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN and others. You can tell much about a person from the company he keeps. Chuba Ikpeazu also attended Christ the King College, Onitsha being among the second set of students. He studied Pharmacy at the then School of Pharmacy Yaba and practised it before jetting out again to Cambridge University where he studied law and was called to bar in 1946. He practised and became a Queens Counsel in 1961 before his elevation to the High Court of the Federation Capital Territory, Lagos, in 1962. He was among the pioneer members of the inner bar, who took appointment as judges (as is common in the United
Kingdom). Back to our subject-matter, apart from legal practice he was very much at home with his Onitsha custom and tradition. He took the Ozo Title and rose to become the Onowu Iyasere of Onitsha. He became Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 1979. As at his death he was the oldest practicing senior advocate in the old eastern region and junior only to two others who got the rank in 1978. In 1984, he became Attorney-General and Minister of Justice under the Military Government of Major-General Muhammadu Buhari and Brig-Gen Tunde Idiagbon. It was a trying period for the nation that was divided between following the rule of law to the letter and stemming the tide of monumental corruption by the ousted civilian regime of Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Decrees were churned out as is customary in Military regimes to deal with the challenges of the revolutionary government. My condolences go to the family, especially to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) son Francis Chukwuemeka Offordile and Nneka Offordile the daughter, a past Legal Adviser of the Nigerian Bar Association. •Ike is a former Assistant Publicity Secretary of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
Lawyer becomes Labour Party chair
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ABOUR Party (LP) Federal Capital Territory chapter has elected Comrade Ashimole Felix Chukwuma as its chairman and 19 others to pilot the affairs of the party in the next three years. Ashimole, a graduate of the Faculty of Law, Lagos State University(LASU), was called to the Bar in 2003 . He was a member of NBA Abuja branch, the (Unity Bar) before he transferred to Bwari Bar. He is a partner, Che Oyinatumba & Associates, a labour law, human rights and public interest litigations firm.
Lawyer wants Nyako reinstated
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LAGOS lawyer and human rights activ ist, Mr. Olukoya Ogungbeje, has asked a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos to reinstate the impeached Adamawa State Governor Muritala Nyako. He claimed he filed the suit in public interest. Ogungbeye is asking the court to declare as “unlawful, unconstitutional, illegal, null and void” the impeachment proceedings and Nyako’s eventual removal. Joined as the first to sixth defendants are the Acting Governor of the state, Ahmadu Fintiri; the state House of Assembly; the outgone Chief Judge of the state, Ambrose Mammadi; Chairman of the impeachment panel, Buba Kajama; the Independent National Electoral Commission
•Makinwa, Azih and Ukpanah at the event.
UN, group call for corruption eradication
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HE United Nations Global Compact Network Nigeria and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) have called for a collaborative fight against corruption. They made the call during a media interaction organised by the group. Mr. Innocent Azih said the organisation is a business community focused initiative to enable operators understand that corruption is an anathema and that there is an international collaboration to punish offenders. He urged the media to collaborate and partner the group to make sure that this global objective is accomplished. The Senior Civil Society Coordinator, Olajobi Makinwa, who is also the head, Transparency and Anti-corruption unit of UN Global Compact, said the group had been implementing the call in about 15 countries. She said: “Other development poli-
By John Austin Unachukwu
cies and agenda will not be accomplished unless corruption and good governance are taken into consideration.’’ Makinwa said the government needs to address corruption because they are part of it and must be part of the solution She called on the government to include anti-corruption provisions in its development agenda. The Company Secretary, Corporate Services, NTN, Uto Ukpanah said UNDC is public sector driven, noted that in 2012, the theme was sustainability but last June, the call was made for anti-corruption policies to be embedded in the development agenda of the world. She called on the government to implement the tenets of the UN Convention on corruption which most countries of the world have signed, stating that it is one thing to sign the
convention and another thing to implement the provisions of the convention. “The call to action is an appeal by the private sector to governments, urging them to promote anti-corruption measures and to implement related policies to establish systems of good governance. “All companies are invited to add their names to this statement. In signing the Call to Action, companies commit to pursuing transparency and fighting corruption. The Call to Action will be forwarded to UN Secretary General Bank KiMoon to high-light the private sector’s continuing efforts to work with other important stakeholders, their names will also be featured as a signatory on the UN Global Compact’s Website. In addition, signatories to the Call to Action will be acknowledged at the UN Global Compact’s 10th Principle Anniversary to be held in New York on December 10.
Ex-NIALS DG to chair Lawyers in the Media Forum conference
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•Azinge
HE immediate past DirectorGeneral, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN), will on Wednesday, August 27, at Hotel Owerri, chair the Lawyers in the Media (LIM) Session at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference. The Theme for this year’s conference is: “Nigeria, 100 years after”. The lawyers in the forum will be looking, the topics: “Media, law and the struggle for good governance in Nigeria in 100 years-the Journey so far and “Pronouncing and enforcing legal penalties for the violation of political advertisements in Nigeria: Issues, prospects and challenges.”
Chairman of the forum, Mr. Charles Odenigbo, said: “The objective of the topics is to update and broaden the knowledge of lawyers working in the media in the broadcast, newspapers and magazines, public relations, advertising, law and ethics and also promote strict adherence to and advance the frontiers of media law among others.” Speakers include the Registrar of Advertising Practioners Council of Nigeria; Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, former President of NBA, Joseph Bodunrin Daudu (SAN); former chairman of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) Chief J. K. Gadzama (SAN) and Comrade Festus Okoye.
•Ashimole
•Nyako
By Adebisi Onanuga
(INEC) and the Inspector-General of Police. In the suit numbered FHC/L/ CS/1180/14, Ogunbeje is seeking a relief among others, an order of the court to compel Fintiri to vacate office with immediate effect and reinstate Nyako. It would be recalled that following the adoption of the report of a seven-man investigation panel, which indicted Nyako of 16 counts of gross misconduct, he was impeached on July 15, by the state House of Assembly and the speaker, Umaru Fintiri, was sworn in as the acting governor. Ogungbeje contended that the process that led to Nyako’s impeachment was unconstitutional as the ousted governor was not served with the impeachment notice. According to him, the failure of the Adamawa State House of Assembly to serve Nyako with the notice was a violation of Nyako’s fundamental right to fair hearing as enshrined under Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution. Setting up the investigation panel after a court order had restrained the House of Assembly from doing so, the lawyer argued, amounted to contempt of court and a display of defiance and flagrant disobedience to the court. He also allegd bias on the part of the former Chief Judge, Justice Mammadi, who set up the investigative panel while his order restraining the House from setting up the panel was still subsisting. No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
Union urges West Africa to fight Ebola
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HE Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) West Africa has called on the countries in the sub-region to join forces in the fight against Ebola Virus Nigeria is the third nation to declare a national state of emergency announced as the death toll of the devastating Ebola epidemic nears 1,000 people in the region. Records show that the incurable disease which has spread through Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria, has infected over 1,779 people in West Africa. A statement by the Vice-President PALU, West Africa Mr. Emeka Obegolu reads in part: “The Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) West Africa, notes with grave concern the unmitigated spread of the Ebola virus across the West Africa sub-region leading to the declaration of International Health Emergency by the World Health Organisation today of August 8, 2014. “PALU (WA) calls on countries in West Africa to deepen corporation and collaboration in the areas of research, containment and information dissemination on all issues relating to the Ebola virus and spread thereof. “PALU (WA) notes the widespread misinformation and
By John Austin Unachukwu
sometimes misleading theories spread through the new media and social networks and thereby calls on governments and their agencies to establish dedicated and authoritative source of official briefing of the citizenry on the measures being put in place for containment of the disease and the responsibilities of the citizenry in that regard. “We urge the various health agencies in the West Africa subregion to accord victims of Ebola their dignity as human beings as provided under the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the respective National Laws of member-states.’’ “We call on the governments of the member states to dedicate human and material resources to medical research as a means of early detection and eradication of such diseases. “Finally, PALU calls on citizens to support the effort of all the agencies involved in the fight against Ebola virus and always confirm alleged treatments drugs/herbs with the authorized agencybefore testing the cure or spreading the news”. Obegolu stated.