Former Supreme Court’s Chris Unigwe buries wife

By Lillian Okenwa

For many years, Chris Unigwe was almost a fixture at every major Supreme Court event. Until his exit in 2018, every swearing-in photo from Senior Advocates of Nigeria to High Court judges, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court Justices had him standing in the background.

Sadly, after 35 years of marriage, Unigwe lost his wife Mrs. Chika Victoria Unigwe on 2 February 2022. Chika Unigwe was a Mathematics graduate of the University of Port Harcourt. She was buried on 19 April 2022.

Chris Unigwe who retired as Director of Planning, Research, and Statistics on 16 April 2016 but was reappointed by the Federal Judicial Service Commission on a two years contract service wedded Chika on 30 September 1987.

As the priest delivered his homilies that gloomy morning, different thoughts whirled around his mind.

Staring at the white casket, overwhelmed by grief and a deep sense of loss while the requiem mass progressed, all that played around his distressed mind was: “I miss you every second of every minute, every minute of every hour, every hour of every day.”  And though his children have not come to terms with the passing of their mother, their thoughts were in synch with the unknown author who wrote: “Once upon a memory, someone wiped away a tear, held me close and loved me, Thank you, dear [mum].”