One-time Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Prof Epiphany Azinge, SAN, has been announced as the 14th Asagba of Asaba in Delta State.
The Asagba-in-Council announced his selection as the most qualified among the 10 contenders in the race, who hail from Ugbomanta quarters and is to produce the next Asagba after Prof. Chike Edozien, who had since joined his ancestors.
The Ochendo Ahaba (Regent), Anthony Edozien, announced the result of the selection process in line with the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Edict of 1979, applicable to Delta State, on Sunday at the Palace of the Asagba of Asaba at Ezenei quarters, Asaba.
He said, “Prof Epiphany Azinge, SAN, has been selected among 10 contenders after due process.
“He will be coronated in due course.”
Other contenders, apart from Prof. Azinge, are Tony Ogugua Konwea, Prof. Emmanuel Onwuka and Ogbuechi Chinedu Esealuka, among others.
Born 13 November 1957, Epiphany Azinge, SAN, is the 5th Director-General of NIALS. He served 2009 and 2014.
He is a Judge at the Commonwealth Arbitral Tribunal sitting in London, where he represents Nigeria and Africa. He is the founder and senior partner at Azinge & Azinge, a law firm in Abuja where his wife Valerie Azinge, SAN is also a partner.
Epiphany had his secondary education at Sanit Patrick’s College, Asaba from 1970 to 1975. He studied law at the University of Lagos in 1976 and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1980. He proceeded to the University of London for his Master’s degree in comparative constitutional law and shipping law in 1983. He proceeded to the London School of Economics for his Ph.D. His thesis was on Electoral Laws in Nigeria.[1] In June 2015, he was appointed a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal (CSAT) for a period of four years. He was re-appointed for another term of four years in 2019.
PUNCH
