Nwosu was bold, fearless, a force to be reckoned with – Onoja, SAN

By Lillian Okenwa

“Nwosu was bold; he was fearless; he was a force to be reckoned with. I don’t know of any other person that could muster the kind of courage he exhibited in fighting oil companies. He was something else. For a man so full of life, I still find his death hard to believe,” Chief Ogwu James  Onoja, SAN mused about the passing of Eze Lucius E. Nwosu, SAN.

Corroborating Chief Onoja’s musings about the late fiery Senior Advocate, author, poet, and Columnist, Obi Nwakanma said that “[Life] itself is unpredictable. Time, fragile. His quiet and peaceful exit was uncharacteristic of Lucius. He was not a man who did things quietly. Nor even peacefully. Built like a dagger – short, taut, and precise – when Lucius entered a place, you took notice. He brought into it the sharp edginess of a knife. He filled a room with brilliant and recondite energy.”

It was with that electrifying energy that Lucius Ezeakamadu Nwosu lit up the 25th wedding anniversary of Chief Onoja SAN and his wife Rosemary Onoja on 3 April 2022. The day before — 2 April 2022 — he was his gregarious self at the opening of Rosemary Onoja Consulting, a Multi-Million Naira Accounting & Auditing Firm sitting in an ultra-modern office complex named Rosemary Onoja House at Abuja. Onoja built the complex for his wife to mark their 25th wedding anniversary.

He was no less in his extroverted elements at the reception venue on Sunday 3 April 2022.

Alas! By Tuesday morning — 5 April —he was gone forever! He will be laid to rest on 10 June 2022.

A leading oil and gas lawyer and native of Ezinihitte, Mbaise, Imo State, Nwosu in his lifetime was a terror to Oil companies.

He represented Ogoni, Rivers State, in its case with Shell over an oil spill wherein Ogoni was awarded N45.9 billion in compensation. He also got compensation to the tune of N37.6 billion for the Odi people against the Federal Government for the invasion of the Community during the President Olusegun Obasanjo Government.

Likewise, Nwosu secured an N81billion compensation for some communities in Akwa Ibom State in a suit against NNPC and Mobil Oil.

Moreover, he was Counsel to the former Chief Justice Aloysius Katsina-Ala, when the CJN was sued by the then President of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Ayo Salami (Rtd.) over his suspension by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

On 6 June 2022 however, a valedictory session will be held in his honour at the Federal Court in Abuja.

In a letter dated 6 May 2022, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon Justice John Terhemba Tsoho acknowledged receipt of a request from Nwosu’s family and friends to host a valedictory court session by the Court in honour of the fallen Silk.

In the letter of approval, the Chief Judge said: “I appreciate the committed, sustained, and outstanding law practice of the late Learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Lucius Ezeaka Nwosu, SAN in the Federal High Court during his lifetime.

I am by this letter, conveying approval of your request that the Court should organize a Valedictory Court Session in honour of the deceased on Monday, 6th June 2022.

While we pray for the repose of his soul, please accept our heartfelt condolences for this irreparable loss.”