By Lillian Okenwa
I’ll miss almost everything about him Lillian. He had a very large heart. He gave me over 60 years of sincere friendship. He was a friend. He was a brother. He was my confidant. He consults me before taking certain decisions. I consulted him too. Really it’s difficult to describe what one will miss about him. – Hon. Justice M.L. Uwais, GCON, former Chief Justice of Nigeria
Their friendship transcended borders. It was a communion of kindred spirits. Hon. Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, former Chief Justice of Nigeria and the late Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim, Senior Advocate of Nigeria were more brothers than associates. They came from different tribes in Nigeria; the former from Zaria in Kaduna State, late Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim, from Kogi State.
But both have very warm and welcoming personalities yet firm as well. Again, a common thread of civility, humility, courtesy, and simplicity ran through them.
Abdullahi Ibrahim wanted to study Administration but was advised to read law. In due course, he enjoyed the best of the two worlds and more, rising to the zenith of his career in Law and serving as an astute administrator in many respects including: Commissioner for Education, Kwara State; Minister of Transport and Aviation; Minister of Education, Science and Technology; Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Director of Nigerian Coal Corporation; Chairman, Governing Council of Industrial Training Fund (ITF); First Vice President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange; Chairman of the Governing Council, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs; Chairman Benue State Transition Committee, 1983; Chairman, Body of Benchers among others.
In a brief chat with Law & Society’s Lillian Okenwa, His lordship shared snippets about Abdullahi Ibrahim who never intended to study law but eventually did and attained the highest point in his career.
“I left secondary school in 1957. I attended Barewa College Zaria after which I joined the Nigerian Tobacco Company (NTC), Zaria in 1958. It had always been my desire to study law so I wanted to apply for scholarship since the government of Northern Nigeria was awarding scholarships to qualified persons from the region who desired to study not only law but other subjects that would be beneficial to the region. However, scholarships were awarded only those working with the government.
“This meant that since I was working with a private establishment, I wasn’t qualified for scholarship. So I joined the Ministry of Information of Northern Nigeria in 1959 as Publicity Assistant; that was where I met Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim.
“I was already working there before he joined and we became friends. We continued until I got scholarship to study law at the Institute of Administration, Zaria, which later became Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. I left for school and that temporality halted our relationship. On his part, he hadn’t made up his mind on what he wanted to study. Afterwards, he got a scholarship to study for his A ‘Levels at the City Technical College, Gloucester. I also had travelled to England to complete my legal training.
“After his A Levels, he decided on Administration. It was his former principal at Government College Keffi, who encouraged him to read law instead of Administration. The former principal, Mr. Walters was on holidays in England. Apparently both of them had kept in touch even when Walters left Government College, Keffi, so he visited Abdullahi at his British Council Hostel in the UK.
“In the course of their conversation he dissuaded Abdullahi from studying Administration and encouraged him to choose law. Thereafter, Abdullahi had a similar conversation the Agent General representing Northern Nigeria. Every region in those days had one. They are representatives of the Regions in the United Kingdom and usually give career and other kinds of advice to students. The Agent General also advised him to study law instead of Administration and that began his journey into the legal profession.
“Subsequently, he applied and gained admission into the Middle Temple, one of England’s four Inns of Court. I was already there completing my law programme, so his arrival rekindled our friendship.
“After being called to the English Bar in 1963 and to the Nigerian bar in 1964 he became an Assistant Legal Adviser on tax matters for the Northern Nigeria Ministry of Finance and even went back to England to train as a tax lawyer. But when states were created in 1967, he was deployed to Kano from Kaduna to help in setting up the Ministry of Justice there. He rose to become the head of prosecution; Principal State Counsel. He worked closely with the Solicitor General and worked very hard.
“When the Solicitor General, Alhaji Nuhu Usman died in a plane crash in 1969, Alhaji Abdullahi witnessed a painful discrimination. A Magistrate Grade 1 from Kano state, Sani Aikawa was appointed in his stead. They said he was not an indigene of Kano. He was very disappointed because had put in a lot of work in the ministry and thought he deserved the promotion. You know he was one of the foundation staff and next to the Solicitor General. The injustice won him a lot of sympathy from those who knew him including some indigenes of the state. They saw him as perfect gentleman, hard-working, friendly and very approachable.
“Shortly after, he took up the office of Legal Adviser at the New Nigerian Development Company (NNDC) in Kaduna. He finally left the public service and began his private legal practice with Justice Mustapha Akanbi in 1973. Akanbi had left Jos to set up private practice in Kano in 1969. While Akanbi was in Kano, Abdullahi opened the Kaduna office in 1973 and the firm changed its name to Akanbi, Ibrahim & Co. Then Babatunde Belgore who later became a judge of the Federal Revenue Court, now Federal High Court also joined them. Again the firm transformed to Belgore, Akanbi, Ibrahim & Co. It wasn’t long before Belgore and Akanbi were appointed judges of the Federal Revenue Court. That was in 1974. Abdullahi never had any interest in going to the bench.
“When his two partners moved on, the firm became Abdullahi Ibrahim & Co. That is still the name it bears today. Even when he retired from active legal practice, he handed over the firm to his lawyers who were no relations of his. He was not taking salary or anything from the firm. He just let them use his name and contacts. He truly had a large heart.
“You know his chambers have produced over twenty Senior Advocates of Nigeria. He had no bias about where his lawyers came from. He reached out to everybody no matter the tribe.
“I’ll miss almost everything about him Lillian. He had a very large heart. He gave me over 60 years of sincere friendship. He was a friend. He was a brother. He was my confidant. He consults me before taking certain decisions. I consulted him too. Really it’s difficult to describe what one will miss about him.“
What would you remember him most for, I asked, and with a sad short laughter, he retorted, “The same thing…” A short pause after, and in a very sad voice, His lordship replied… “very loyal. Very loyal…”
