LIVES
Oseloka Obaze*
Saturday 12 January 2008
An Elegy for Uche Omo
A Reverential, Accomplished and Fulfilled Life
The Hon. Justice Uchemefuna Omo, J.S.C., CON, KSC
28/08/28 – 08/01/08
Hon. Justice Uche Omo, J.S.C., CON, KSC, retired Nigerian Supreme Court Justice and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria (NHRC), died peacefully in his sleep on 8 January 2008, at the St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos. The cause of death was pneumonia and complications from renal failure. He had celebrated his 79th birthday on 28 August 2007 at his country home in Asaba.
Anyone privileged to have briefly encountered the late Justice Omo would attest to three things; he was cerebral, a great conversationalist and a brutally frank and honest man. The latter attributes served him and his interlocutors well during his years on the Bar and Bench. In sum, he was urbane and great man. Fondly called Uche by his peers, he was to many of his friends, interlocutors and family, including this writer, simply “The Judge”. He was resoundingly jocular and a “jolly good fellow”, who had the uncanny ability to react to whimsical situations through small and mirthless laughs.
As lives go, his was unquestionably a very reverential, accomplished and fulfilled life. His legal career was similarly illustrious. His bonhomie was genuine and palpable. Thus, his personality was the most endearing trait to his family, colleagues, friends and other interlocutors. Little wonder the family press statement announcing his passing did not include a word of mourning or grief, but instead, an affirmation of “joy and thanksgiving to Almighty God, on the passing on to greater glory.” There were many Nigerian legal luminaries in his time, but those who dealt with Justice Omo professionally, continue to describe him as a fair, plainspoken, courageous, intuitive judge and arbiter; qualities that fully complimented his status as an eminent Nigerian in good standing. He had many reverential peers, admirers and protégées. One protégée, Dr. Ben Azinge of New York on hearing of his passing, called him a “bundle of knowledge.”
Though Justice Omo served mostly on the Bench, his years at the Bar were equally remarkable. There was hardly any doubt about his abilities as a solicitor and advocate. Indeed, in a 2004 interview, Chief Sobo Sowemimo (SAN) recalled how as a young attorney, he and his colleagues went to courts watch the likes of Justice Omo perform. His words: “In those days some of us practicing lawyers would go to the courts to watch our seniors conducting cases. In those days you will see lawyers from the Eastern Region at the Supreme Court, like Justice Louis Mbanefo who later became the Chief Justice of the Eastern Region, he was brilliant. So was Justice Chike Idigbe. They all came to argue cases at the Supreme Court. Then there was Justice Uche Omo, Justice Emma Araka, they were coming from Onitsha. We enjoyed going to the court just to see one senior barrister conduct cases.” As a dedicated Christian and person superbly attuned to the shoals Nigerian politics, traditional values and culture, Justice Omo gave transparent and unrelenting emphasis to education, social responsibility, due process, rule of law, human rights, discipline and altruism.
Born Uche Okonkwo Omo on 28th of August 1928 at Kano to Richard Okonkwo and Gladys Nwalor Omo of Asaba, Delta State, he was the first of five children. He had his primary school education in Jos. A consummate Nigerian, he spoke fluent Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba - the three major Nigerian languages. A history buff, voracious reader and irrepressible and well-traveled man who visited over 50 countries in his lifetime, he had once in discussion, placed his birth year in the historical and sports context of Argentina beating the United States by 11 goals to 2 in soccer at the 1928 Olympics Games, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Justice Uche Omo was a self-made man who garnered his own educational and professional pedigree. For starters, he was a “Great Igbobian”. During his years at Igbobi College, Lagos (1941-1946), a school where “learning, character training and sports: were given due attention”, he enjoyed the friendship of many who went on to become eminent personalities, including renowned historian, Professor Ade Ajayi, who was his classmate. Prof. Ajayi incidentally, drove from Ibadan to Lagos with his dear wife, to visit him at the hospital sickbed just four days before his demise. A keen sportsman and avid soccer fan, Justice Omo went on to Captain, Igbobi College, Cricket 1st Eleven in and the Football 2nd Eleven in 1946, his last year at Igbobi.
After his at Igbobi College days, Justice Omo went off to study at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the London University; the Lincoln’s Inn and the Council of Legal Education of England and Wales, between 1948 and 1952. Having obtained his LL.B. (Hons.) law degree, he called to the English Bar on the 1 July 1952 and enrolled in Supreme Court of Nigeria on 18 July 1953. His sojourn in England was propitious and had exposed him to many Nigerian nationalists and founding fathers that were then campaigning for Nigeria’s independence from Britain. As the Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Great Britain and Ireland (1950-52), Executive Committee Member, West African Students Union of Great Britain and Ireland (1950-53), and later General-Secretary, United Working Peoples Party of Nigeria, (1954-55), Vice President, Nigerian Youth Congress, (1962-64) and Chairman, Social Working Peoples Party of Nigeria, (1964-66), he had interacted with emerging Nigerian political leaders. Most knew him on a first name basis.
After fourteen years (1953-1967) of an enterprising and rewarding private law practice, which began in Aba, in Eastern Region of Nigeria, he was called to the bench in 1967 and served on the High Court of the Mid-Western Region and Bendel State of Nigeria as Administrative Judge in towns like Sapele, Agbor, Asaba and Warri. He was in the good company of other eminent jurists of his time, including Hon. Justices Mason Begho, Victor Ovie Whiskey, Andrew Obaseki, Ayo Irikefe, and Omo Eboh. In 1977, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal and served as Presiding Justice at Ibadan and Benin until 1991, when he was became a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and served until his retirement in 1993. On the Supreme Court, he served with such renowned peers including Hon. Justices Mohammed L. Uwais, Paul Kemdilim Nwokedi, Alfa Belgore, Hon. Justice Ephraim Ibukun Akpata and Adolphus Godwin Karibi-Whyte. Justice Omo is No. 52 on the honor list of past Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Besides his normal judicial functions, Justice Omo undertook critical ad hoc national duties on several occasions. In 1967, was the Lead Counsel on Begho Tribunal into Assets of Public Officers in Midwestern State. He was the Sole Commissioner on the 1973 Visitation Panel into the University of Benin as well as the Chairman of the Commission that investigated the 1975 Orile-Agege Army/Civilian Disturbances.
On retiring from the Bench and until his demise, Justice Omo remained active within the legal circles by serving on various Arbitration Panels as Chairman, Member and Sole Arbitrator. He was an Associate of Chartered Institute of Arbitration. Having initially declined overtures by Gen. Sani Abacha’s regime to Chair the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria (NHRC), he accepted the appointment after the return to democratic governance in Nigeria and chaired the Commission from 2000-2004, making the best of his time on the Commission. Speaking his capacity as chair of the NHRC at the 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, in Durban, South Africa, he called for “reparations, not necessarily in terms of monetary compensation to individuals … but in the cancellation of the crippling debt burdens imposed on African nations by the IMF, the World Bank and related agencies, accompanied by massive aid targeted at substantively providing unfettered development to the victims and their descendants, wherever they may reside.”
Justice Omo’s was endlessly concerned about the use of public policy in the defense of illegality. Unsurprisingly, therefore, under his leadership, the NHRC took umbrage at the Obasanjo government’s handling of the 2001 Odi and 2004 Zaki-Biam crises, in which Nigerian soldiers killed innocent Nigerians and razed their villages. The NRCH deplored the hasty deployment of military operatives to such the flash points, noting, “After the tragic incident in Odi in Bayelsa State two years ago, one would have thought that the Federal Government would have learnt some lessons from such impunity.” Justice Omo was also a strong advocate for the reform of the Juvenile Penal system in Nigeria. Consistently, he stressed the need to examine critically why past Nigerian governments failed to effect significant changes in the juvenile legal system. He decried the existing system where “over the years, children and young persons were in most cases tried like adults and incarcerated in regular prisons with adults.” In 2004, along with a panel of which included Justice Abdul Mutalib Ambali, Justice Adolphous Karibi-Whyte and Hajia Fatima Kwaku, Justice Omo served on the national tribunal that took testimonies on violence against women.
Just as jurisprudence was his calling, support for sports and community service were his choice pastime. In support of Nigerian contingents, he attended every Olympic Games, from 1972 (Munich); 1976 (Montreal); 1980 (Moscow); 1984 (Los Angeles); 1988 (Seoul); 1992 (Barcelona); 1996 (Atlanta); 2000 (Sydney/Australia); to the 2004 games in Athens, Greece. Similarly, he attended every FIFA World Cup tournament from 1974 (Germany); 1982 (Madrid); 1986 (Mexico); 1990 (Rome); 1994 (USA); 1998 (France), and only missed Japan/Korea (2002) and Germany (2006) due to ill health.
His keen support for sports at the local level saw him holding several offices, which included, Secretary, Aba District Amateur Football Association (1954-56); Chairman, Aba District Amateur Football Association, (1956-58); Secretary, Eastern Nigerian Council of the Nigerian Football Association 1958-6; Member, Nigeria Football Association, (1958-61); Chairman, Midwestern State Lawn Tennis Association (Re-organization Committee) 1967-69. Hw was Chairman, Bendel State Sports Council, (1976-78); Chairman, Committee of Enquiry into Administration of Football – 1987; Member, National Sports Commission, (1988-89); Chairman, Committee of Enquiry Into Proposed Changes in the National Sports Council, (1989); Member, Presidential Monitoring Committee for Stadia, January 1993 – 1995; and Vice-Patron, Nigerian Olympics Committee, from 1977 to 2008.
On the social, religious and community plane, Justice Omo was an engaged activist. He was a Trustee, Asaba Development Association, 1971 to 2008; Patron: Asdev 1981 Club, Asaba, 1981 to 2008; Huda Club, Asaba, 1987 to 2008; Ahaba 1988 Club, Asaba, 1988 to 2008, Special Member, Falcon Club, Asaba, 2000 to 2008; Chairman of Laity, General Synod, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 1987 to 1995; Deputy Chancellor, Asaba Diocese, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion); Chancellor, Asaba Diocese, 1995 to 2008; Vice President, Igbobi Old Boys Association, 1991 to 1997; and Life Member, Nigerian Bible Society, 1989 to 2008. A committed Christian, he served as the Chairman Order of the Knight of St. Christopher and Chancellor, Anglican Diocese of Asaba from 1995 to 2008. From its inception in the early 1990s, he was as the Chairman of the Sunny Dike Odogwu Educational Fund (SDOEF), which benefited many indigent students at the secondary and university levels.
In acknowledgment of his meritorious service to Nigeria and humanity, the Nigerian Government conferred him with the high National Honour of Commander of Order of the Niger (CON) in 2003.
This tribute by a son-in-law will surely pale against more intimate and complimentary appraisals by people who were Justice Omo’s life-long peers, friends and admirers. Until his death, he was mentor to many serving Judges and lawyers who counted on his wise counsel and guidance. As such, there is no question that with his passing, Nigeria has lost an elder statesman of the Nigerian judiciary and a very urbane and cosmopolitan patriot.
Justice Omo is survived by his wife of fifty-one years, Catherine Nodu Omo (nee Okolo), a brother, Sir Henry C. Omo, an accountant and a sister, Mrs. Mercy Ngozi Azinge. His children include Mrs. Ifeanyi Jideonwu, an attorney, Dr. Ofunne Omo Obaze, US-based physician affiliated with the Association of Nigerian Physicians in America (ANPA); the Hackensack University Medical Center, Valley Hospital and the Woodbridge Township Health Department all in New Jersey, USA; Ms. Unoma Omo of Chevron Nigeria Ltd.; Uche Omo, Jnr. Esq. (Principal Partner), Chidi Omo Esq. (Partner) of Uche Omo & Associates, a Lagos-based law firm; and Mr. Kanayo Omo, a California-based actor, film and documentary producer. His sons-in-law are Dr. John Jideonwu a Lagos-based entrepreneur and Mr. Oseloka Obaze, Senior Political Affairs Officer at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. His daughters-in-law are Mrs. Nwaamaka Omo and Mrs. Rosemary Madu Omo. Several grand children, cousins, nieces and nephews, also survived him.
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*Mr. Obaze writes from the New Jersey, United States.