It is easy to blame bad children, convenient to curse those who sell drugs to them or lure them into cults and gangs. But didn’t someone give birth to and raise them, all of them, cultists, gangsters and the victims? These plenty little demons giving us reason to do candle-light procession for our young ones, did they drop from the sky? How did things get this bad with our once pretty babies with fluffy curly hair and fat legs? How did our fine boys who gave us heart-melting wide toothless grins become men we can no longer recognise?
When you hear some terrifying stories of what 25-year-olds are up to these days, you can’t help but wonder if these were ever babies wearing I-love-mummy bibs or sucking their mothers’ breasts with let-us-pray seriousness, one fat leg in the air. Or do you not wonder how a baby who once cried relentlessly just for his mother’s nipples metamorphosed into a ritualist who strangled his father for Yahoo Plus money-making rites? How did the bubbly baby girl with pink ribbons in her hair become a hustler who lured her sugar daddy to his untimely death?
Where did today’s parents get it wrong? Where did we lose our children? How did we lose them to ‘I just want to blow’ culture?
Whether it’s a balloon or an electric transformer, don’t we all know that once something ‘blows’, some damage is done, sometimes irreparable damage? Blow in street or entertainment parlance can be safely described as success, recognition, wealth, the kind that arrives with a bang, and who does not want their children to succeed and prosper? However, the ‘blow’ also comes with a negative connotation, an unwritten, underlying drift towards ‘success achieved by all and any means’ possible. And that is where the problem lies. Cutting corners, cutting people down, destroying norms and cultures just to get to where you want to go irrespective of whatever it takes or who gets trampled along the way is the current way of getting ahead that can and will have consequences. The parents of the child who mauls everything breathing and not breathing just to ‘blow’ are usually the hardest hit when the sh*t eventually hits the fan.
This is the ‘I wanna blow’ generation, let’s admit it so we can fix our fears. Our children are in a hurry to get things done because we put them on the fast lane early indeed, before they get out of their diapers; playgroup at 12 months, nursery school at three and primary school at four years. I had a friend who pushed his daughter into the university at 14 to read medicine! It ended in premium tears. Some of our children are already coding at 15 and seeing themselves outdoing and overtaking the dot.com billionaires before they are 25.
Today’s kids are very aware, probably too aware of who they are, where they want to be and they want to be there now or ASAP. Since we started them on this fast lane, it is our duty as parents to ensure they stay on the straight and narrow. It is sad, however, that more parents think the only way to parent is to throw money at parenting. Put ‘em in the most expensive school. Enrol them in ballet and piano classes, employ Portuguese and Mandarin teachers for them after school and at weekends and shoo them off to boarding house and ‘the abroad’ whether they are mentally and emotionally ready or not. Once daddy and mummy are making enough money, parenting can be substituted with fees and bills. Is there any better definition of destructive parenting?
Let’s break it down and be honest about the kind of parents we really are.
That school your kids are attending, what exactly motivated you to enrol them there? Is it because ‘at your level, where else will they go?’ Ah, got ya! The choice of your children’s school is like ‘aso-ebi’. Because others bought, you also bought. Your children are going to spend their formative years in a school you chose because it’s expensive, not because it is great. Your only son is in that school because it’s cool, not because its’ good. Who are you going to blame if the boy comes home one day and announces that if the driver won’t use the Toyota Prado to drop him off, he isn’t going to school? Does your daughter think it is bush to spend Christmas holidays with her grandparents when all her friends are off to London for white Christmas? You may think those thoughts are nothing to worry about but that’s how a dark slide starts if you don’t get ahead of it.
What values are you inculcating in your children? Do they know what the concept of ‘respect’ mean or they talk back when you correct them? Are they Yoruba children who think kneeling or prostrating to greet their elders is ‘stone age’? Do you have to scream at them when you have guests before they know they have to give you the room? Watch it modern dad. Things do not spiral out of control overnight.
‘Iya ti mo je omo mi ko ni je’ (my children will not suffer the way I did). These are the parents who constitute the most danger to themselves, the children they love so much and indeed the society. It is among these ones you have men who scold their wives for sending the children to go and grind pepper or buy groceries. The children are ferried to and from school. They can’t cross the road on their own or ride on commercial buses. They run home to mummy to speak up for them and everything threatens their mental health. Fragile, do not break, handle with care babies. No street smarts, none at all. Dear mummy, these children you are over-parenting, how will they cope when they face the harsh realities of the real world or you intend to replace this over-protective attitude with therapy sessions each time they have to contend with bullies even in the workplace?
Do you pray with your children? Do you go to church or mosque with them? Do they know God? Do you pray for them? Or you have suddenly left them to find their way? They are old enough now and should be allowed to make their own choices. That is what some fathers tell themselves as an excuse for dereliction of duty. Apart from the holy books teaching that we should lead our children on the right path, who doesn’t know that the child that we did not build will auction the house we built? Chubby-cheeked babies who neither respect nor fear God will eventually become what their parents are not proud of. Even when you have done everything you should and your children are doing well, that is when your job starts, on a different more intense level. Picture it, your actor or musician son suddenly hits the big bucks, fast cars and posh flat. That’s when to hit the prayer mountains with fasting and praying that is directly proportionate to the success of your child. Why? Because a parent’s job is never done.
Your daughter has enrolled for her PhD at 26. She needs you. She is not a big girl, just your fat baby girl. Be all over her business without being intrusive. Your 30-year-old chartered accountant son just became a branch manager? Congratulations, but there are also chances that he will be ‘invited’ to join a cult or envious colleagues may try to harm him. Yes, he’s ‘blown’ before 30, but did you prepare him for this fast lane, this fast arrival? Most of us are guilty. Take a second look at your children and what you as parents have done to prepare them especially the ones we have shipped to UK, USA, Australia, Canada and China. Can you thumb your chest that they could swim before you pushed them into the deep end?
Now this big one. Why are our boys looking like half-men-half-women? They plait the hair on their heads only to contrast it with very bushy beards. They started years ago with ear studs and have now graduated to dangling ear rings. Some even wear black nail-polish. Everywhere you turn, there are artificial ‘Dada’ and ‘Samson everywhere with dirty, dyed dreadlocks. Perplexing and exhausting for me. Are we being punished for neglecting our God-given duties as parents or am I the only one who is worried? Did anyone just say ‘this Funke is so old fashioned?’ Ah, my dear modern daddy, I’m worried that you are not worried that it is becoming increasingly embarrassing to tell a brother from his sister.
The boy wears earrings like the girl and struggles for hair cream with his mum and sister. Looks like we have all lost control of these babies we once carried in our wombs for nine months. The boys, over time, became so envious of their sisters’ and mothers’ looks they now want to look like them. Some of my fellow old fashioned mothers even insist that men who braid and weave their hair are suspects. Please don’t ask me any follow-up questions. I am just one old girl trying to manage the confusion of seeing a man wearing a native cap on weaved hair.
Did I leave anything out? Drop your contribution and let’s expand this conversation.
The Association of Lawyers with Disabilities in Nigeria (ALDIN) utterly decries the brutal and despicable rape and murder of Uche, a 13-year-old girl with disability who was raped to death in the most bestial and barbaric manner on the 23rd day of September 2023, at Aborjieze village in Umuagu-Inyi Autonomous Community in Oji River Local Government Area, Enugu State
The widely reported news suggests that, Uche Cyril Ajala Onwuzuru, a minor with hearing and speech impairment was savagely, unconscionably and sexually molested to the point that the little girl lost her life immediately after the act, by a 70 year-old man identified as Anthony Mgbenwa Okpara. Reacting to the news, the National President of ALDIN, Ikem U. Uchegbulam Esq, said “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this despicable, reprehensible, and condemnable sexual predation and assault on a minor with disability,”
The Association is deeply worried that this heinous act of raping and murdering persons with disabilities is becoming a pattern and signs of a broader societal problem which must be stem with extreme urgency, anything short of this will undermine Nigeria’s legal system and the foundation of our moral existence
ALDIN express it’s heartfelt condolences to the family, and the Disability community on the tragic and unfortunate event. While restating it’s unalloyed commitment to pursuing the case to its logical conclusion and ensuring that Justice is done.
It further urged the police and authorities to comprehensively and thoroughly investigate and prosecute all responsible parties to the maximum extent of the law as well as to step up to their responsibilities of not just solving rape and murders and other crimes but prevention of such heinous crimes.
ALDIN further urge members of the public to unite against this animalistic brutality and supports justice for her, and to be vigilant and always intervene and protect persons with Disabilities and vulnerable members of the society.
May the good Lord grant us His comfort in this time of grief, Amen.
Signed Justice Christopher Director Media and Publicity ALDIN National
The Nigeria Police Command at the Federal Capital Territory on Saturday said it has commenced inquiry into reports that a young lady, Greatness Olorunfemi, who was a victim of ‘one-chance’ operators in Abuja, died after medical personnel at Maitama General Hospital allegedly refused to attend to her for lack of a police report.
The PUNCH reports that an X user, @Gbemilekhe, who shared the story on Friday, claimed that the hospital in the Maitama area of Abuja asked for a police report before treatment could commence, noting that Miss Olorunfemi sadly passed away moments later.
“Greatness was pushed out of a moving vehicle by one-chance criminals in Abuja. She was rushed to Maitama General Hospital, and they refused to attend to her, demanding a police report. She died afterward,” the tweet read.
Another X user, @Nwaadaz, who claimed to be a friend of the late Olorufemi, shared more details of the sad incident, revealing that some assailants stabbed Olorunfemi, who bled to death after the hospital rejected her. “Maitama General Hospital refused to attend to my friend who was stabbed by a one-chance driver in Abuja. They allowed her to bleed to death and locked the emergency ward against her because she didn’t have a police report!! Nigeria has failed Greatness!,” the user tweeted.
The hospital management could not be reached as of the time of filing this report.
However, when contacted over the development on Saturday, the Federal Capital Territory Police Command Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh simply said, “The police are investigating the matter.”
Rejoinder On The Allegations Of The NBA President Mr. Y. C. Maikyau SAN Dear Elders of the Bar and Distinguished Colleagues, all protocols are duly and respectfully observed.
By God’s Grace, I make this rejoinder to the issues raised at Our Inconclusive Annual General Meeting of 30th August 2023. I have held back in silence these past weeks out of respect for the Bar, its institutions, and the many Elders and Personalities who hold a place of high regard in my life.
At the risk of the many negative interpretations of my silence, I now opt to respond as follows.
1.0. INTRODUCTION.
Kindly recall that on Thursday, the 30th day of August 2023 at Our Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association, (which I have the honor to serve as your National Treasurer), I formally reported in the AGM that I am being marginalized from performing my Constitutional duties as the duly Elected National Treasurer of our noble Association by Mr. President and to which he rather chose to respond with a floodgate of counter false allegations against us.
2.0. A REBUTTAL TO THE PRESIDENT CLAIMS.
During and after the AGM, the President issued a flurry of statements and granted a series of interviews alleging corruption against his officers. For the records, I hereby state unequivocally;
2.1 ACCUSATIONS OF BEING AFTER OUR BAR PRACTICING FEES (BPF)
Mr. President alleged that National Officers are fighting him because he refused to share the BPF with us. May I state here that this is totally false and mischievously toned to distract members from focusing on his Alpha Male style of Leadership exposed.
Our yearly BPF when paid are straight away reposed in a Supreme Court Account with signatories comprising only Mr. President, the General Secretary, and the Supreme Court Registrar as signatories.
Access thereto is therefore not available to the NBA Treasurer or other National Officers because we are non-signatories thereto.
Only these three can permit the withdrawal of an amount of the BPF (to other NBA and or our secondary BPF Account for a specific time or use) vide an application to the Supreme Court Registrar.
Just how does one get to whichever BPF Account and somehow throttle Mr. President to share the same with you?
How much of the unspecified BPF did we also wrestle you to share with us, sir?
If you would be so kind as to remind us of the particulars of when and where we did so tackle you to squander our BPF, we will be much obliged, Sir.
From whence did Mr. President get his unfair, unkind, and fallacious fabrications against my person?
I have never asked Mr. President to share our BPF with me or any other person, now or ever and I have no need to resort to such Criminality.
Mr. President has on these very critical issues played the Victim, The Prosecutor, Judge, and Executioner:
I hereby challenge Mr. President to bring forward his evidence in support of this weighty allegation made before the whole world against us as it ridicules and casts aspersion on our integrity as Constitutionally Elected Officers of the NBA and the Nigerian Bar Association at large.
That at no time or place did I ever request or demand that any amount of money in any form of any currency whether in his custody or another’s be given to or shared with me, or with any other person(s) at any time or place, by, or with Mr President or any other National officer or person.
2.2 ALLEGATIONS OF LOBBYING AND MOUNTING UNDUE PRESSURE ON MR PRESIDENT
I hereby state that contrary to Mr. President’s fallacious claim, I never had any prior knowledge of his decision to nominate me to the 2023 Commonwealth Lawyers Conference (CLA) at Goa, India nor did I apply or lobby him for same. He only called, hinted, and directed me to forward my requisite details to his Personal Executive Secretary one morning and I accordingly complied and expressed thanks.
I Caroline Ladidi Anze-Bishop never lobbied or applied for any NBA sponsorship to the IBA or anywhere else. I am not an ingrate nor I would be that insensitive, particularly when other National Officers to my knowledge have yet to enjoy any such official privilege by him.
I wish to respectfully and emphatically demand Mr. President, to stand upon the time-hallowed principle of law; that he who alleges must prove, to kindly provide proof when I, Mrs. Caroline Ladidi Anze-Bishop, ever acted in an underhand manner or made an unreasonable request even by his own stringent standards.
I further demand Mr. President to condescend upon the particulars of when or where I asked or lobbied him to go for the IBA or any other Conference whatsoever ?
I have also never stayed in any Hotel beyond an official engagement stipulation, so why the blanket of false accusations?
With due respect, I request Mr. President to cease and desist from inveighing me in his blanket denigration of National Officers and to right away retract these false statements, and issue a public apology against my Person and all distinguished National Officers of the Bar.
I know for a fact that there was never ever a meeting of National Officers where a resolution to share any monies (or the said N40 million as falsely alleged by Mr. President) was ever reached. The open public rebuttal of the NBA Assistant General Secretary, Mr. Daniel Ka-Ayii Kip (who takes down the minutes of the meeting) squarely amplifies this truth.
2.3 ON THE ALLEGATION THAT I DID NOTHING ABOUT THE REMITTANCE OF OUR BPF TO BRANCHES I HAVE THIS TO SAY;
That at when, Mr. President authorized the General Secretary to set up and chair a virtual meeting of NBA Management stakeholders on the 14th of March 2023 to attempt a Mediation/ Negotiation / Reconciliation with the Management Team of one Webitsecure Technologies (the now-sacked NBA ICT Consult company hitherto managing our BPF Portal, who are demanding payment for services rendered without proper disengagement) on issues of our BPF portal and remittance to Branches, I demanded to be added to that team and the General Secretary effected same.
My contributions there can be easily corroborated by the records of said meeting even after Mr. President took the BPF affairs entirely into his hands without bothering to involve me before, during, or after the entire process of disbursement of their estimated 10% remittances of Bar Practice fees to our Branches.
3.0. MY SIMPLE CONSTITUTIONAL DEMANDS
i. I respectfully ask the NBA President to honor our NBA constitution and allow me to fulfill my constitutional mandate pursuant to S. 9 (5) (g) and S. 23 of the extant Constitution of the Nigerian Bar Association, and in peace.
For the avoidance of doubt, I have reproduced S. 9(5) g and S.23 of our Constitution which gives legality to my office as the National Treasurer of the Bar, and the same are hereafter attached to this letter.
ii. Mr. President has alluded that the reason he has refused to allow me to carry out my constitutional duties is because he wants to cut down on the cost associated with bringing or retaining the National Treasurer to/at the NBA National Secretariat at Abuja!!!
However well intended the President is, with the greatest respect, how does this reason stand up to constitutional scrutiny?
Am I expected to vet Financial Memos and recommend them in absentia?
When I reminded Mr. President that the Treasurer is a principal Officer of the Bar and member of the Secretariat Management Committee; a key Standing Committee mandated with Secretariat Management, and therefore one who by implication must be physically and readily available at the Bar House as much as possible to do her job, Mr. President countered my position and argued that the Secretary and I perform almost the same functions.
He said moreover that the Constitution permits him to make use of either the Secretary or Treasurer and that if he decides to use the Secretary, I need to show him where it is written that this is in bad taste!
Whilst his personal interpretation out-rightly contradicts the wordings of our Constitution, I obediently tried to align with his ruling and suggested that I could come to work fortnightly to help cut down on any cost-related concerns we may likely have, but he shut down this suggestion in a manner of finality and overruled that we would rather leverage on Technology and send e-memos to the Treasurer to scan, vet, recommend, then re-scan and resend by means of technology.
In line with the Presidential order issued, I stay put at my jurisdiction and only emerge to attend selected meetings subject to a strict Presidential marching order issued by our C-in-C, in cases where it is possible to physically attend and no more.
3.1 THE CLAIM OF PAYING ALL OF HIS PERSONAL AIDES FROM HIS PERSONAL PURSE;
The above claim by Mr. President is also untrue.
You will easily find in the NBA Staff salary schedule of the Association that Mr. President retains not less than 3 Aides on the payroll of our Association at the moment, contrary to his publicized claim on the floor of the AGM that he personally pays ALL his aides from his personal purse.
The said Schedule is a public document that speaks for itself and clearly contradicts his claim. He who comes to Equity must come with Clean Hands Sir.
Mr. President has alleged that he expended about fifty million Naira (N50,000,000.00) on the official Entitlements and refunds of National Officers since October last year (I hereby request Mr. President to avail each National Officer an official Copy of the individual breakdown of the alleged cumulative financial records of the aforesaid amount allegedly spent on them) and he implied that it is a Colossal waste which could have been better channeled to a one-year NHIA insurance package, for a greater number of Lawyers who MAY need them, as against the National Officers of the Bar.
Do kindly oblige us with your obtained records Sir, as I am yet to receive any response from the NBA Accountant on the same requisition made.
The sacrifices we make as National Officers either from leaving our Families, practices, and other endeavors to travel at short notice for service rendition to the Bar cannot be quantified and or trivialized, even as it is freely and joyfully so volunteered by us.
4.0 FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD i. I wish to categorically state that neither I nor any National Officer has to my knowledge accused Mr. President of any Financial Crime at any point in time, but he however chose to respond to our report of his undermining our various elected offices with a counter false allegation of Financial impropriety against all National Officers at the AGM grounds. I put Mr. President to the strictest proof thereof.
ii. Mr. President cries Wolf now, but just why didn’t he expose us all as Plunderers of Bar resources at NEC or other meetings before, or even at the AGM before I had the floor? This is most unfortunate and it is obvious that he only played to the gallery to evade the reports of usurpation of constitutionally elected Officers against him.
iii. May I also State that when Mr. President single-handedly undertook to receive an anonymous donation of undisclosed sums in US Dollars and further undertook its conversion at an undisclosed rate to Fifty million Naira N50M, then unilaterally appropriated ten million naira (N10M) to himself, and also single-handedly deposited or attempted to deposit the alleged balance of forty million naira N40m in our Account and so on and forth; in clear contradiction of Section 9 (5) (a) and of the Treasurer’s primary Mandate, he simply confirmed the fact that he’s been acting as the Treasurer of the Bar, and doing my job at will with impunity.
iv. Neither I nor any of the National Officers accused Mr. President of fraud, yet he made this public confession and one that may likely set certain Anti-graft Agencies on our trails, soon.
The Lord himself is my Shepherd, Source, and Sustainer and l am very contented with His provision.
What he cannot do for me should remain undone. I earn my daily bread and know assuredly that there is a curse in the House of a Thief therefore I will not steal!
v. I have never asked Mr. President to share our BPF or any money whatsoever with me or any other person at any place or time so let him hereby desist from trying to tarnish my good name with his tar of iniquity and apologize publicly to all the National Officers of the Bar for all of these unfounded allegations against Us.
5.0 MY PRAYERS
I have no wish to engage in a diatribe against Mr. President or the hallowed institutions of the Association.
i, I only demand Mr. President to allow me to perform my constitutionally designated duties, without let or hindrance, No more, no less. He may be the President but he is not both the President and Treasurer neither does he have the right of shape-shifting to the NBA National Treasurer at will.
I was not appointed but duly elected to Office as the NBA National Treasurer by the popular mandate of all Nigerian Lawyers in accordance with our Constitution as he was, so I pray him to kindly desist from arrogating or appropriating the Powers of my Office to himself whenever it pleases him, and that, in utter disregard to our exalted Constitution.
In line with usual expectations following an imbroglio of this kind, I can tell you that I have been bombarded with the good, the bad, and the ugly since our World AGM day, inclusive of all kinds of insults, threats, and embarrassments etal, but I take it as a part of the job description.
I equally appreciate the Nicodemus-es who brightly cheer me quietly in the dark; may you find the courage to soon stand with me in the light of truth’s warmth and ambiance.
Ii. I hereby call for the convening of an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) Pursuant To Section 10(4) & (7) Of The NBA Constitution, 2015 (As Amended) (since the inconclusive AGM was adjourned sine die) so that we reach a logical conclusion of the meeting and issues abandoned on the Agenda of that day.
iii. I equally demand for an independent audit of our Financial Books to ascertain or debunk Mr. President’s allegation of Financial Fraud against all National Officers and the tarnishing implication that we are Crooks. I believe our true BPF and general financial position will be revealed and all Crooks apprehended. I am not a thief and I daresay an immediate audit of our Account will corroborate my claim and certify me clean, so I strongly demand for an immediate Audit thereof.
The AGM is the highest body recognized and authorized with the highest powers of our Constitution as the fit and proper Arena for a grand finale of this Saga. Anything less will be likened to commencing a Matter in the Supreme Court of the land and adjourning for continuation of hearing in the Court of Appeal; to my mind.
On account of certain respected Elders and circumstances, I will say no more here but one thing remains true; the powers of an NBA President must be corralled and made accountable in clear terms less we find ourselves saddled someday sooner with a grand Emperor of the Bar who may drag our Association to the gallows of his choosing.
I have the Constitutional duty to protect, preserve, and uphold the distinguished office of the NBA National Treasurer and I refuse to have it reduced to a Window dressing or Rubber Stamp. We have less than 12 months to the end of this Tenure and the necessity is laid on us to GET IT RIGHT as the lead Association which promotes the rule of law and justice.
I remain ever grateful for this mandate to serve the Bar and pledge to so serve to the best of my ability and by His Grace.
Thank you all for your kind attention.
Long live our Nigerian Bar Association.
Your Treasure keeper,
Caroline Ladidi Anze-Bishop AICMC,
NBA National Treasurer, (2022-2024)
Cc.
1. The Body of Benchers,
2. The Annual General Meeting
3. The National Executive Council
4. The National Executive Committee
5. The NBA Board of Trustees
6. All Past National Leaders of the Bar.
7. All past National Treasurers.
8. The General Council of the Bar
9. Chairman & Esteemed Members of the LPDC
10. Members of the Press
11. To whom it may concern.
Text of Section 9(5)g and Section 23(3) of our Constitution: herein attached to this statement.
g) of the Constitution of the NBA, 2021.
the estimated revenue and expenditure of the Association for the succeeding Financial Year covering the period January to December of any Calendar Year;
iv. shall be in constant touch with the Branches to ensure that all members of the Branches pay their annual practicing fees as and when due;
v. shall compile and circulate a list of members who have paid or are in default in respect of their practicing fees in each year and take steps to circulate such list at the Annual General Meeting, the meeting of the National Executive Council, the various Heads of Courts in the country, Corporate Affairs Commission and such statutory bodies as may be decided from time to time by the National Executive Council;
vi. shall invest the monies of the Association in such securities as may be approved by the National Executive Council;
vii. shall cause to be prepared and presented to the National Executive Council at its quarterly meetings the Management Report and Accounts of the Association for the preceding quarter. The said Quarterly Management Report and Accounts shall be published and circulated to all members of the Association upon adoption by the National Executive Council;
viii. shall circulate to every member of the National Executive Council the audited accounts and balance sheet for the preceding Financial Year;
ix. shall submit an annual report to the Annual General Meeting to which shall be attached the audited accounts and balance sheet for the preceding Financial Year;
x. In respect of any Election Year, he/she shall, in addition to the audited financial statements for the preceding year, also present to the Annual General Meeting the following financial statements and reports:
1. Half-Year (January-June) Audited Financial Statements; and
2. Unaudited Management Report for the period ended one week to the Annual General Meeting date.
xi. shall circulate to every member of the National Executive Council the financial statements and reports specified in sub-paragraph (vii) above prior to the Annual General Meeting;
xii. shall be a member of the Secretariat Management Committee;
xiii. shall perform all other duties as may be assigned to him/her by the President or the National Executive Council or the National Executive Committee or the Annual General Meeting.
Section 23 of the Constitution of the NBA, 2021
Finance
(1) All monies belonging to the Association shall be kept in its name with such reputable bankers as the National Executive Council shall appoint.
(2) There shall be three Principal signatories to the Association’s accounts namely, the President, the General Secretary and the Treasurer; any two of whom may sign.
(3) Without prejudice to the preceding sub-paragraph (2), the President shall be the final authority in respect of all electronic and other banking payments. Provided that all payments, electronic or not, shall be vetted and recommended for payment by the Treasurer and/or the General Secretary prior to the President’s approval and subsequent uploading (in the case of electronic payments) and payment authorization.
(4) No expenditure shall be incurred for any purpose unless such expenditure has been approved generally by the National Executive Council in the annual budget or any supplementary budget of the Association. Provided that in any case of serious urgency, the President in consultation with the General Secretary and the Treasurer may authorize such expenditure in their discretion and afterwards seek covering approval from the National Executive Council. Provided however, that the exercise of such discretion shall be limited to the recurrent expenditure of the month immediately preceding.
(5) The General Secretary may hold as imprest such amount as may be approved by the National Executive Council from time to time.
(6) The National Executive Council may invest the funds of the Association in government securities or such other securities.
(7) If the Auditor surcharges any officer or member of the Association with the payment of any amount, the National Executive Council may serve a notice upon such person to pay the amount surcharged within a period not less than fourteen (14) days after service of such notice upon him/her. Upon such person failing to pay the amount, the National Executive Council may authorize that legal proceedings be taken to enforce payment.
(8) Ten (10) percent of Bar Practicing Fees paid by members of each Branch shall be remitted to the Branch in the months of April and December of each year.
A Federal High Court in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Monday, remanded a lawyer, Imoh Ekong, at the Uyo Correctional Centre over an alleged N12 million property fraud.
He is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a two-count charge of stealing and criminal conversion.
EFCC operatives in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, arrested Mr Ekong in December 2017 based on a petition from, Ime Umo who alleged that he had paid the lawyer N12 million in 2015 as a part-payment for a property in Uyo, according to a statement by the EFCC.
“The petitioner, however, could not pay a balance of N28 million for the property because he found out that the power of attorney presented to him by Mr Ekong was allegedly forged. He also discovered that the property had previously been sold to someone else”, the EFCC said in its statement.
Mr Ekong was arrested and arraigned at the State High Court, Uyo, where he was granted bail in 2019. But he jumped bail.
FIRS He was re-arrested by the EFCC and arraigned on Monday. The suspect pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Justice Maureen Onyetenu, after listening to the prosecuting counsel, Victor Ukagwu, who informed the court that the defendant had previously jumped bail, ordered him to be remanded at the Uyo Correctional Centre.
The court adjourned the matter till 19 October for hearing on the defendant’s bail application.
TEXEM Advert In a related development, Justice Onyetenu on Monday sentenced an internet fraudster, Mbang Uba, to one year imprisonment over a $300 scam.
The convicted fraudster was, however, given an option to pay a N500,000 fine.
Justice Abiola Soladoye of an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Thursday, September 28, remanded a man, Stephen Monday, in the custody of Lagos Correctional Service for allegedly defiling his lover’s four-year-old daughter. The defendant is facing a lone count charge of defilement of a child preferred against him by the Lagos state government.
During the arraignment of the defendant, the Director of Public Prosecution, Babajide Martins, told the court that the defendant committed the offence on February 14, 2021.
He said that the incident took place at about 5 a.m., at No 5, Ayeloja Street in Ikorodu.
Martins told the court that the defendant allegedly had carnal knowledge of the four-year-old girl by inserting his penis into her vagina.
He said the offence committed contravened Section 137 of the criminal law of Lagos State 2015.
The defendant pleaded not guilty.
Following his not-guilty plea, Martins requested the court for a trial date.
Granting his request, Justice Soladoye ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison custody.
She adjourned the case to November 9, 2023, for trial.
In a disturbing turn of events, the University of Lagos (UniLag) has been accused of not only charging the sum of N525,000 for a bed space in its hostels but curiously issuing receipts that indicate payment of N135,000.
This is on the heels of controversies and protests by students of the university against enormous increase in their school fees.
Students said that the charging of N525,000 for bed space by the management of the university which was disclosed by one of the #FeesMustFall conveners, Adeyeye Olorunfemi, in a statement on Tuesday, was a backdoor arrangement as the university does not issue a receipt for N525,000 but only for N135,000 it officially announced.
Olorunfemi said “Our investigation has shown that it’s the same pattern of stealing. N135,000 on official receipt, but N525,000 paid for a “bed space” at Sodeinde Hall.
“It’s N525,000 for a bed space not land, not a mini-flat apartment, not even a full bunk. A space for a student mattress. This is elevated stealing supervised by the DSA, sanctioned by the VCs. It did not start yesterday. We found out that it’s been going on for almost 3 years.”
The UNILAG had in a public notice signed by its Head, Communication Unit, Adejoke Alaga-lbraheem, had announced that “Utility Charges for all categories of students was reduced to N15,000 from N20,000.
“The obligatory fees for new undergraduate students was reviewed from N126,325 to N116,325 for courses without Lab/Studio and N176,325 to N166,325 for courses with Lab/Studio.
“Hostels fees were reviewed as follows: for undergraduate hostels in Akoka and Yaba Campuses, the fees was reduced to N43,000 from N90,000. For hostels in Idi-Araba campus, the fees was reduced to N65,000:00 from N120,000. The fees for Sodeinde Hall was reduced to N135,000 from N250,000.”
The notice had further noted that the Vice Chancellor of the University would commence the process of reinstating students’ union activities in the University.
The decision was taken at a meeting which lasted over five hours and had in attendance management staff of the university including the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Management Services); Professor Lucian Chukwu; Dean of Students Affairs, Professor Musa Obalola and Professor Adebisi Sunday, Director of the Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Centre (ESDC).
Meanwhile, a student of the university whose identity was not revealed said, “I sent a member of staff to apply then and the former DSA told the woman to tell me that l will pay N210,000 (extra N150,000 for indigent students). When she told me, I laughed. Myself is an indigent student. So I told her to tell him l don’t have any extra N150,000 to pay. Then he said she should tell me that they’ll consider me only if there’s leftover space.
“They later gave me the Sodeinde and I paid only N60,000 as it should be, only for me to later realise that almost all my friends at Sodeinde then actually paid N210,000. I mentioned it sometime in 2021 or so on the former DSA’s Telegram group when he claimed Sodeinde is N60,000, the man deleted my post.”
Another student said, “Actually, I was planning to see the DSA face to face but he wasn’t around, so I met the Secretary and explained what I came for.
“Next thing she said was “Bring your parents, you can’t get it yourself. They have to be the one to sign. I told her I could afford it and pay by myself. She told me it’s N525,000 total.
“N525,000? Is it not N135,000 that you people wrote for Information Flash? The same Sodeinde that they told us is N135,000, to get it, the requirement is – you must adopt a student, and to adopt, you will pay N390,000.
“So to get the Sodeinde, you would pay N390,000 plus the official N135,000, making a total of N525,000.” Adeyeye Olorunfemi, said that currently, “A number of these hostels have been privatised and turned to “suites”, pushing out poor and struggling students to the cold and to the voracious sharks waiting for them in the real estate business around campus.”
According to him, “It’s also laughable because in the list of palliatives rolled out by the Management, this adoption was also stated there, but they said it would be done by alumni.
“Why then has this criminal adoption been happening even before the increment in fees? There’s no other name to describe this than Stealing. Pure Authority Stealing.
“The N150,000 “goes” to the indigent students no one knows. To confirm to you that it is a racket, if you know your way around, you won’t pay the N150,000 adoption money.
“Despite all these rackets, the same VC is crying on TV that she loves the students and that the University will shut down if they don’t increase fees, they need to pay NEPA.
“The allocation to those indigent students that no one, including the sponsor knows, has been increased “due to economic realities” to N390,000. So as you approach the Student Affairs for a bedspace at that hall, you are told the total sum is N525,000 despite them announcing N135,000 to the world; an amount that is already outrageous- increased by over 100 percent (N60,000 to N135,000).
“The whole world needs to beam their torchlight to the extortion and criminal activities going on in UNILAG. We want to assure you that we won’t rest until all the perpetrators of this crime spend some time in jail.”
In a great show of what is referred to in Latin as ‘Opus Laudatio’, – preeminent praisework, the Nigerian nation gathered in Yenagoa on Saturday, August 26, 2023, to celebrate one of the country’s living legends, Professor Emeritus Ebiegberi Joe Alagoa. Earlier, on April 14, 2023, this historian of lauded value and history teacher attained the milestone of 90 years of age.
For a man who is naturally reserved and of much tempered manners, the actual birthday rolled by largely unnoticed. But he was however ambushed on that occasion and deservedly toasted and honoured being one of the “Last Men Standing”, amongst his generation of historians of great minds. Interestingly, despite his ripened age, on that day, his new book, ‘Ebisuote’ – an arcane work on the love which he shared with his departed wife, Dame Mercy Alagoa was unveiled.
WHAT REALLY IS HISTORY?
The celebration of this personality regurgitated many minds on what History is all about and what historians like the illustrious Alagoa are to society and to our collective human experience.
The truth is that, from the days of Greek civilization, some 3,000 years ago, this question has reoccurred. Indeed, notable philosopher, Heroditus now known as the “Father of History” and his contemporary, Thucydides, debated, often differing, on the significance of what History is all about. Generally speaking, to many, History is just about exploits regarding physical territories, lands and related geomorphic themes. For example, we vividly recall the nature and extent of the lands acquired by Emperor Gengis Khan of Mongolia, who arrogated to himself the title of “Oceanic, Universal Ruler” and had the single largest contiguous territories in human history. Same way we remember the story of such persons as King Cyrus the Great of Persia, who called himself “the King of the world”. There were also Alexander the Great of Macedonia, as well as Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France, who is remembered to have wept profusely because there seemed to be no more known territories available for him to conquer.
Coming closer home is perhaps the varied accounts of lands acquired by our own Emperor Askia Mohammed of Songhai empire, known more as Askia the Great, His empire covered a good part of West Africa; In Nigeria, there were legends like Oba Esigie the Great of Benin Empire whose territorial stretch covered the forests and swamps of much of what is today known as Southern Nigeria and parts of Dahomey (Republic of Benin) or Queen Amina of Zauzau, Sheikh Othman Dan Fodio of the Sokoto Caliphate and King Jaja of Opobo, amongst other great warriors. Similarly, in Southern Africa, there was Chaka the Zulu who held sway in the region in the 18th Century.
Unfortunately, this territorial emphasis about the past is totally restrictive and should be rightly claimed by geographical sciences which deal with environment, spaces and peoples. In real sense, history is not just about territories.
In a related development, others associate history with just cultural and traditional expressions/expositions. So they count such activities as religion, dances, masquerades, ritualistic expressions of various forms, including: rites of passage, rites of succession, rites of inheritance and just tales, fables and the likes as History. No doubt, these are very close and most of their contents are overlapping with history and historical value. However, such forms of human expressions, strictly speaking, lie within the frontiers of Anthropology, Sociology as well as within the terrain of Literary Arts.
So what really is History?
A RETURN TO ALAGOA’S “FIRST” INAUGURAL LECTURE
The search for the meaning of History therefore takes a backward bearing to the first Inaugural Lecture at the University of Port Harcourt delivered by Professor Alagoa himself. Although the University had been established since 1975 as a campus of the University of Lagos, the first set of pioneer students were admitted in 1977. However, this first inaugural lecture was to be delivered by a long tenured professor and took place in 1979, two years into the effective take-off of the institution. It must be clarified that UNIPORT authorities at the time, as against normal convention, where new professors show off their academic prowess with inaugural lectures, co-opted a 7 years tenured Professor Alagoa to take on the task in the presence of his peers, almost all of whom have departed.
9 The Inaugural Lecture tried to explain what history is from three rather absurd aphorisms. These are:
a) History as “The Python’s Eye”
Alagoa’s much awaited inaugural lecture was strangely entitled “The Python’s Eye: The Past in the Living Present”. Now 44 years down history, it would be otiose to go into details of the lecture as we try to define History. However, the kernel of the work was the fact that unlike most other reptilian ophidians (large snakes) who depend mostly on their tongues for information on the environment around them, the morphology of the eyes of several python species, allows it to have both anterior and posterior views at the same time.
Alagoa’s metaphor of the Python’s Eye is not amiss. Born April 14, 1933, in the swampy town of Okpoama, in today’s Bayelsa State of Nigeria, he is the son of a respected noble Nembe man of royal birth, Chief Joseph Ayibatonye Alagoa. He was therefore raised in Nembe Kingdom of Nigeria’s fourth largest group – Ijaw ethnicity. Amongst the Nembe people, the python still remains a totem to traditional worshippers and until recent times, was a common site co-mingling unperturbed with the human population. Pythons and their mannerisms were therefore known fully and understood by all in the society. Amongst other things, the people knew pythons for making informed decisions on issues depending on their often very empirical judgment about happenings around them. This is usually based on what they see from all views. Pythons are also full of tack, gait and discretion once they have seen from both the back and front and they often never blunder.
Apart from relying on his Nembe origins in trying to define History, this first generation scholar took the epithet of the Python’s Eye directly from a proverb of the people of Ikwerre ethnicity, which says “anya diali bu anya eke” – the eye of a man with local roots is (as penetrating as) the python’s eye. The Ikwerre people, though largely settled in the more upland fringes of the Niger Delta, as well documented by the great writer, Captain Elechi Amadi in his several works, are equally riverine. Their language is quite related to the Igbo language, but most of their traditional and cultural habits are similar to the Ijaws, their neighbours. The deification and totemism associated with the python is common in several Ikwerre clans. For example, in Rumuolumeni community, in the precincts of Port Harcourt, where one of Ikwerre land’s most venerated deities ‘Okemini’ exists, the royal python occupies a special place in their worldview. In some communities in Imo State sharing boundaries with the Ikwerre people as well as far-fetched communities such as Idemili in Anambra State, the python is equally regarded as an object of worship and known for similar characteristics as attributed by Alagoa.
It may be, perhaps, arguably, that the veneration of python or similar endangered species of animals by our traditional societies in Africa, is some ingenious form of conservation indigenously developed by our ancestral past. Maybe deeper studies need to be conducted on such occurrences by relevant experts. Anyway, Alagoa’s symbolism of history being seen within the context of the python’s globular organs makes meaning against the backdrop of these close human interfaces with this reptile. The historical value which the various peoples attach to this creature’s ability to take good decisions, especially while hunting, devoid of impulsive considerations, underlies Alagoa’s definition of History.
Reading Alagoa’s inner mind appears to be the gravamen of historical endeavour that is looking back, making a fairly objective and accurate interpretation of the past and relating them to current circumstances. In so doing, either consciously or often unwittingly, History helps in predicting the future.
b) History as “The loud steps of ants”
The related sub-theme as it pertains to understanding the import of History from Alagoa’s inaugural lecture was the axiomatic reference to the “throbbing footsteps of the ants”. Ants? Yes.
Some species of ants are amongst the tinniest living creatures on earth. Yet, they are known for keeping strict social habits and civic organization. This is to the extent that even the Holy Bible states inter alia “Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise…the ants are a people not strong, yet they store provisions in summer and gathers their food at harvest…” (Proverbs 6:6-8).
Alagoa again goes to the Ikwerre culture to borrow an ancient idiomatic nugget. His obsession with Ikwerre worldview is perhaps due to the fact that UNIPORT is located on its soil. In this instance, he brought out a proverb which translated literally from the Ikwerre language, means that “a perceptible listener, who places his ears pointedly to the earth will hear the loud marching, steps of the ants”. To achieve that, or hear the supposed footsteps of a miniscule ant, one must be fully attentive. That is enough to capture the movements and perhaps even gauge the strength of numbers of ants, and the direction of their movement. He therefore insisted that History is being able to distill the past with razor sharp accuracy, similar to hearing the loud noise being made by ants as they match daily. What great ancient African wisdom!
SO, IS HISTORY A SCIENCE?
Some argue that if History is so sharp and precise, like Mathematics, does that make it a Science? The word “historia”, from which the discipline derives its name, means “inquiry or knowledge acquired by investigation”. So, whether from the perspective of Alagoa’s recourse to African traditional knowledge or from its Greek origins, the ‘Historian’, being the professional, either traditional or western trained, must look back effortlessly and must also be objective and adeptly analytical.
According to the Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia, the historian’s tool is “systematic, sequential, logical and progressive in clearly defined steps”. He must resist the temptations of emotional subjectivism, exaggerations and sensationalism.
On account of its organized and systematic nature, Herodotus the first lettered professional in the field, thousands of years ago, considered History as a Science. This is same for the leading 18th century Oxford Professor of Modern History, J.B. Bury, who stated that “History is a science, no less, no more”. He considered history to be a data bank established and verified by research techniques. Perhaps it is for these reasons that several authorities especially from the ‘Oxford School’ of Historians even in contemporary times still stress the scientific nature of the discipline.
Perhaps a unifying view would be to suggest that the practice of history should simply be the synthesis of a deeply humanistic preoccupation, that is, dealing with human activities, interpreted through the deployment of multiple tools, quite a number of which are scientific. Alagoa and many pioneers of his generation tried to do so, especially in our hitherto preliterate societies, rendering the past almost entirely in oral literature or other forms of artistic expressions, thereby providing interpretations that were scientific and empirical enough to be of historic value.
One is further inclined to suggest, that the study and practice of History must unclasp itself from the strictures of academic compartmentalization, viz, Art or Science. The dividing lines must only be seen as guides. More so, in a world where some forms of science, especially telecommunication, even chemistry and biology creep into every human endeavour. So the historian must obliterate these lines and be able to work within the wider search for knowledge.
A YOUNG NEMBE BOY AND THE ‘IBADAN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL’
Nembe kingdom in which Alagoa grew up was one of the largest and most renowned political dominions in the coastal belt of Nigeria. Alagoa himself inherited an important chieftaincy stool “Kala-Joe” from Ogbolomabiri, the seat of the kingdom’s monarchy.
His father, Joseph Alagoa, a renowned Chief was like many of his Nembe kinsmen of his era, an adept trader. At the time the senior Alagoa was born in the 19th century, Nembe became greatly famed for its strategic position in the palm oil and kernel trade which replaced Slave Trade in 1884. The area was then declared as a British administered “Oil Rivers Protectorate” (1884-1893) and later the “Niger Coast Protectorate” (1893-1900). At the time of the proclamation of treaties, the Nembe kings and chiefs, unlike their counterparts in other neighbouring areas refused to be subservient to the evidently retrogressive policies of the British Crown and its chartered Royal Niger Company. This culminated in the 1895 stand-off between them, led by King Frederick William Koko (Mingi VIII), (1853-1898) and the British in what is today known in Nigerian history as “The Akassa Raid”. The historical accounts, Alagoa has well documented in his books “King Boy of Nembe” and “Small Brave City-State”. King Koko learnt of the earlier abduction of King Jaja of Opobo by the British in 1887 and Chief Nana Olomu of Itsekiri in 1894. Interestingly, in December 1897, British gun-boats raided Oba Ovonranwen’s Benin Kingdom. But Alagoa’s forebear, King Koko avoided giving the British the pleasure of capturing and exiling him like his other friends, by committing suicide in early 1898.
The European conquest of Africa towards the end of the 19th century brought to the front burner the systemic study of some disciples in the newly established schools at various levels in the colonies. For example, Geography became emphasized to enable them understand the physical terrain of the new territorial possessions while the study of Social Anthropology came in to help know the human life forms and inter-relationships. Above all, there was the study of History. History was particularly important as it enabled the colonial authorities to place the various peoples in time and space. Besides, most of the colonial officials had their educational foundations in the Liberal Arts, especially History, Anthropology and Classics.
The Faculty of Arts in the early years of the University College, Ibadan when it was established in 1948 was particularly vivacious. Amongst others, the types of Chinua Achebe, Gamaliel Onosode, Emeka Anyaoku, Wole Soyinka, JP Clark, Christopher Okigbo, in addition to the history-flaunting folkes like Ade Ajayi, Tekena Tamuno, Emmanuel Ayandele, Sabiru Biobaku, Obaro Ikime, Gabriel Olusanya and Adiele Afigbo.
The young Nembe prince, Ebiegberi Alagoa was of the 1958 set and graduated at the young age of 25, coming out on top with an Honours Degree. His first-rate performance at Ibadan was not startling as he had left a similar record at St Luke’s Primary School, Nembe, where in 1948 he left one of the most impressive results since the school was established by Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther in 1872. When he proceeded to Government College, Umuahia, which at the time was the equivalent of Eton College in England, from when it came into being in 1929, the rather studious Alagoa again left footprints which remained reference points for many years.
While in Ibadan, he was greatly influenced by some pioneers of the discipline like Prof Kenneth Dike (1917-1983) and Prof Saburi Biobaku (1918-2001) who succeeded each other as the first and second indigenous Heads of the History Department. Dike, amongst other things, helped found the Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN) and was also the founder of the Nigerian National Archives. Famously, his book, ‘Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta 1830-1885’ dealt extensively with the 19th-century geostrategic and gun-boat diplomacy in the Oil Rivers area. This seminal work in contradiction to European texts and reports, focused on exogenous issues from African perspectives; in this case by the various people of the Niger Delta to rebuff the incursion and invasion of their societies by European imperial powers.
Rather restless, Prof. Dike was also the brain behind the emergence of what became known as the ‘Ibadan School of African History’. Located within the University, this adept gathering of scholars devoted itself to the promotion of the study of African History by African scholars and the authentication and valorization of Oral Tradition as a credible source of Historiography. The Ibadan School also had other pioneers of European origin such as Professor Michael Crowder (1934-1988), Professor Robert Smith (1919-2009) and Professor John Webster. In all these, one of its shining stars was the young man from the creeks, Alagoa.
The role of the Ibadan School was akin to the pioneering work of first Senegalese President and chief exponent of the Concept of Negritude, Leopold Sedar Senghor (1906-2001). His thoughts and works brought to the fore the historic role of the ‘Grout’. This was the ultimate oral literary maestro, who, under oath, had to preserve peoples’ past stories especially in the Senegambia valley. In most courts in centralized political domains in Africa, similar court historians, in most cases hereditary, existed and the performance of their duties were bound by traditional dictates of truthfulness and accuracy. Even in the less organized group, the village, or clan, historians were often held in esteem and veneration, almost in the same level as priestly class for their strict adherence to the dictates on integrity and truthfulness.
ORAL TRADITIONALIST PER EXCELLENCE AT WORK
The churning out of graduates in the Humanities, especially History from the University of Ibadan in the 1950s and early 1960s saw an upsurge in the appetite for the proper recording and presentation of the past history of the various tribes in Nigeria. It should be stated here that it was very few of the Nigerian communities, perhaps those which came in contact with Arabic civilization that the past was recorded in any written text. So, for the rest, Oral Tradition provided the medium of reckoning of the past. One author defined oral tradition thus: “a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. The transmission is through speech or song and may include folktales, ballads, chants, prose or verses”. This is what these seeming academic mutineers from the “Ibadan School”, black and white, began to promote.
So, after completing his studies at the University of Ibadan, Alagoa, who had secured a job at the National Archives of Nigeria, thanks to Prof Dike, proceeded to the American University, in the United States for more specialized training. There, he obtained a Certificate in Archives Administration in 1959. Such specific expertise was greatly needed at the National Archives which until 1958, had been part of the University of Ibadan. Its leadership remained under Prof. Dike who was pioneer Director from 1954 to 1963, and was there to see Alagoa sail out of the shores of Nigeria to America for more knowledge.
With his additional knowledge and skills on archival management, he soon stood out among his peers at the national repository. However, still searching for knowledge, Alagoa, obtained a study leave to pursue a PhD at University of Wisconsin, USA till 1966. Although his experience at the archives exposed him to a lot of written texts from European explorers, missionaries, colonial officials among others, Alagoa’s academic inflections and emphasis again dwelt on Oral Tradition and use of folkloric and Afrocentric sources. This formed the content of his doctoral work.
With the completion of studies, his initial academic sojourn oscillated between Lagos, then Nigeria’s capital city and his familiar town of Ibadan. So, he moved over briefly to the University of Lagos, (UNILAG) as a Lecturer in African History, 1965-67, but went back to his former school, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, as a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies shortly. He lived in Ibadan up till 1972 and upon promotion, went back to the University of Lagos as Professor of History and Director of the Centre for Cultural Studies. After five years at UNILAG and with the take-off of academic programmes at the University of Port-Harcourt (UNIPORT) in 1977, he accepted to come nearer home as pioneer Dean of the School of Humanities and Deputy Vice Chancellor. When his principal, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Donald Ekong, a foremost Chemist, completed his tenure and left in 1980, he acted in his stead for one year, that is, till 1981, but remained the substantive Dean of the School of Graduate Studies from 1982 to 83 and later from 1985 to 87.
As UNIPORT took form over the years, Alagoa became the pioneer Chair of the Faculty of Humanities of the Niger Delta Research Group, 1990-98. In the course of time, he was also a Visiting Scholar at the Frobenius Institute in 1989; as well as the Resident Scholar at the Bellagio Study and Conference Centre, in 1990; and Research Scholar at Brown University from 1993-94.
BOOK, BOOKS AND BOOKS
The people of the Niger Delta, especially Benin Kingdom, the Itsekiris, and Ijaws were the first to make contact with Europe. So, as early as the 1460s when the Portuguese came into Benin, a few persons, especially from royalty became lettered, but this educational development and its benefits was interrupted for 400 years due to the ravaging slave trade and other factors. However, Christian religion and western scholarship came back to such places as Bonny, Nembe, and the Efik territory in the late 18th Century and early 19th century. With colonial conquest, reports by European writers of various sorts therefore began to emanate in some archival sources such as government sponsored Intelligence Reports. There were also earlier documented texts from oral history such as Chief Jacob Egharevba’s 1936 book, A Short History of Benin and Chief S.K. Owonaro’s History of Ijo (Ijaw) and Her Neighbouring Tribes in Nigeria, published in 1949. However, trained accounts by scholars were scanty. It therefore behoved on the likes of Alagoa to source, record and properly publish the history of the region.
From the date of his first graduation, Alagoa took on the gauntlet and carved out a niche for himself as one of the leading Nigerian scholars on the practice and use of Oral Tradition, as the preferred source of historiography of the people of Nigeria. Soon, he came up with countless books on the history of various themes, related to the lands and peoples of the Niger Delta region. At a time when literary works were manually done, he stood out in the country and around global academic circles for his tirelessness in writing continuously.
Unlike most of his contemporaries, he has since churned out over 168 major works, most of which are published in at least 4 languages.
COMMUNITY AND NATIONAL HISTORICAL SERVICE
Outside core academic circles, Alagoa also remained greatly involved in historical research and community service. In this respect, he was Member of the Nigerian National Archives Committee, 1966-70; National Antiquities Commission, 1972-76; National Council for Arts and Culture, 1975-76; and later served as a member of the Nigerian Television Authority, from 1984-86; the Nigerian Copyright Council from 1989-93, and the Nigerian National Merit Award Board from 1998-2001.
Back home in the old Rivers State, he was Chairman of the State’s Council of Arts and Culture for four years from 1972-75. He was at various times, a member and later Chairman of Rivers State Chieftaincy Board of Inquiry and Rivers State Chieftaincy Review Commissions, respectively, from 1975-76.
While being engaged in government responsibilities that bothered on historical facts, he was also saddled with bringing value to the tertiary education sector serving as Member of the Governing Council of the Rivers State College of Science and Technology, 1972-75; and pioneer Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of the Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State, in 2001. At present, he is Chairman of Governing Council of the Edwin Clark University, Kiagbodo, Delta State.
Perhaps one of Professor Alagoa’s greatest services was to the Historical Society of Nigeria where he is a founding member, Fellow and has been President for two terms from 1981-83 and later from 1991-94. Equally significant, is the fact that he also served as President of the Nigerian Association for Oral History and Tradition from 1985-94 and fellow of the American Anthropological Association.
ACCOLADES, APPRECIATIONS, HONOURS
From quite early in his academic sojourn, Professor Alagoa had attracted the notice and appreciation of the global academic community, often unsolicited. Accordingly, he became a Fulbright Scholar in the 1983/84 session and ten years later, that is between 1993-1994, was invited back to be a Senior, Fulbright Scholar. In-between in 1990, he was a Rockefeller Foundation Scholar. For any academic in Nigeria, worth his salt, one of the most approving accolades is the award of the fellowship of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), an award Professor Alagoa so much cherishes. And in the year 2000, he was conferred with the national honours of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON).
DESIDERATUM
To numerologists, the number 90 symbolizes “time of spiritual awakening, enlightenment, inner-wisdom, and philanthropy”. These are also in sync with the demeanour of the Historian, Alagoa. He is an analyst per excellence and has outlived many of the pioneers of his generation as the most efficient and trustworthy historian. He has remained focused on research, studies, writing and the teaching of History.
In Alagoa’s own words, “The past may be dead, but we cannot bury it. There are some people who are ready to act as undertakers. And wish to see the past disposed of for good. There are others who have made it their business to see that the past does not completely disappear from our consciousness. I am pleased to be counted among this latter group”.
Indeed, Chief (Professor) Ebiegberi Joe Alagoa Kala-Joe is an awesome Ambassador; properly establishing and re-telling the past objectively, from traditional perspectives. None will controvert his towering legacy or the view of some that the types of Prof. Alagoa do not come too frequently in the land of men. At a time when our communities lack old men and women versed in knowledge of the history, tradition and culture, save for people like Prof Alagoa and his ilk, our entire past would have joined our ancestors to their graves.
Today, many Nigerians do not only have a past to recount and dig deeper, but an identity and a pride. Indeed, the job is now easier for younger Nigerians and African historians. For these, the entire Nigerian state will be eternally grateful to Chief Kala Joe, an ultimate hero of all times.
Happy 90th birthday, Papa.
This is abridged from the Birthday Anniversary Lecture delivered by Ambassador Godknows Boladei Igali, PhD, OON, FHSN, FNAH, FAIA.
National Identity Management Commission [NIMC] is the federal government agency created for the maintenance of a National Identity Database, the registration of individuals and the issuance of general Multi-purpose Identity Cards.
There are certain persons in Nigeria that are exempted from registration for National Identification Number. Such exempted persons are free to live in Nigeria, transact businesses, own and use phone numbers and bank accounts without a National Identification Number. This work will reveals the persons exempted from National Identification Number (NIN) registration.
We are thrilled to announce the upcoming Third Edition of The C. O. Anah SAN Memorial Colloquium.
The Colloquium is a unique and impactful event dedicated to advancing knowledge and fostering dialogue towards human rights protection and enforcement.
We are deliberate about rekindling the consciousness of Nigerian Lawyers to the critical roles they play in nation-building and development.
We achieve this by interrogating aspects of the laws of evidence, practice management, professional ethics, and human rights enforcement.
This year’s edition will be held in Onitsha, Anambra State where C. O. Anah, SAN whose legacies we honor and celebrate, practiced and served as a chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Onitsha (The Premier Bar).
📌 Date: 25th October 2023. 📌 Venue: The Presidential Hall, C J Patterson Building, Ozalla Road, Onitsha, Anambra State / ZOOM. 📌 Theme: Practice Management; The Heatbeat of Every Impactful Legal Career.
This year’s edition promises to be rewarding as we bring together thought leaders and distinguished practitioners to speak to the theme.
We will discuss succession in law firms, advertising in legal practice, and gender inequality amongst litigation lawyers.
Watch this space for updates on the speakers who will be leading the discussion.
Save the date and join us as we embark on this important introspection.
For more inquiries, or to reserve your spot, email us at [email protected].
Let’s come together and chart a course for legal excellence. We look forward to your participation!!!
Born on the 30th September 1935 in Adazi-Ani, Anaocha L.G.A. in Anambra State, Cyprian Okafor Anah fondly called C.O by friends and colleagues gained admission into the University College London of the University of London and acquired his LLB in Law in 1974. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1978.
Upon his return to Nigeria, C. O. started his practice in the Chambers of his cousin and indeed best friend, Senator Nathaniel Nwachinemelu Anah. He also joined the Nigerian Bar Association where he later rose to be Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the Onitsha Branch, Chairman of the Onitsha Branch, and Member Council for Legal Education.
C.O. Anah, SAN
A dedicated Rotarian, a Paul Harris Fellow, an excellent advocate, and an expert in the Law of Evidence amongst others, he was elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2005.
The Learned Silk passed on the 24th of March, 2019.
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