A few days ago I watched a video posted by Agba Jalingo of the iconic and historic High Court of Justice, Ogoja, engulfed by fire.
Since its establishment in about 1971 with Justice Inyang who passed on in Ogoja, as pioneer Judge, the court has told stories and has been a story itself. This Court, one of the first to be created outside Calabar at the creation of the then South Eastern state has a lot of history.
Apart from justifying the decision of the then Emmanuel Takon Ndoma-Egba, better known as E.T.Ndoma-Egba, to reside in Ogoja, making him the first resident private legal practitioner there, it became the attraction for a wave of new lawyers to choose Ogoja as their base. These included Ochikry Idagbo (later Justice), Fidelis Nnang ( later Deputy Governor and Justice), Kanu Agabi ( who became the first Ogoja Senior Advocate and Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice), Etowa Arikpo ( later Attorney General of old Cross River State, Justice, and Chief Judge of Cross River State) Paul Kanjal ( later Justice) and P. J. Agabi -Wonah ( later Attorney General of Cross River State).
This was before my own generation of resident lawyers which included Paul Erokoro (later Commissioner and now a Senior Advocate of Nigeria) Greg Ikaba Ngaji (later Local Government Chairman, Commissioner and Senator) and S.A. Obi ( later Justice).
Today, Ogoja has become so attractive that we now have a full branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, a second High Court with other High Courts in Bekwarra and Yala, which were part of Ogoja Local Government in our time.
It was in this burnt court building that I made my very first High Court appearance before the avuncular Honourable Justice S.E.J. Ecoma who later became Chief Judge of Cross River State in July 1979. I, along with Paul Erokoro, had appeared with our principal, Kanu Agabi, in a manslaughter case which was for address. Without prior notice, after Kanu announced appearance, he further announced that I would be taking the address. On my first day in court? This was far more than I would have ever bargained for; I was just nerves. Fortunately, I had on my own read the file and had made notes. With active encouragement from Kanu, Paul and His Lordship, I was able to conclude my address without collapsing and making some sense. When judgement was eventually given, it was in our favour. This reinforced my confidence.
This was just before the end of the legal year in 1979. Justice Ecoma was transferred and was succeeded by Justice Etowa Arikpo.
Justice Arikpo, a thorough, hardworking, punctual, no nonsense judge, did not suffer fools gladly. He was so meticulous that he corrected lawyers grammar and pleadings in open court to their utter discomfiture. He did not take kindly to applications for adjournment. You had to be fully prepared to appear before him. As he arrived Ogoja, Kanu in October 1979, left to take up appointment as Commissioner for Finance in the newly elected Government of Clement Isong as governor of the then Cross River State while Paul had moved to Ikom to set up Kanu’s practice there. Kanu’s busy Ogoja practice now fell on my young and inexperienced shoulders. I was now condemned to permanent appearances before Justice Arikpo who would sit from 9am to 4pm without a break. This was my greatest tutelage. I learnt a lot from Justice Arikpo and built up the necessary confidence needed for litigation practice. By the time I relocated to Calabar in September 1981 I was fully ready for the courts.
For many of us, the burnt High Court in Ogoja is not just a structure or building, it is our memory, it is an essential part of our lives, it is a major part of our history and our story, it is an edifice edged in our hearts and minds.
The Court of Appeal next to Government House, Calabar, which had variously served as the Supreme Court of Southern Nigeria, and indeed, Nigeria and the Chambers and Court of the Chief Justice of the then South Eastern State, before they were renamed Chief Judge, got burnt years ago when Liyel Imoke was governor of Cross River State. The relic still stands forgotten and consigned into the dustbin of history in spite of its eminent pedigree. Its occupants included Darnley Alexander who became Chief Justice of Nigeria, Edem Koofreh, his successor, among others.
When a Division of the Court of Appeal was established in Calabar in January 1999 with Dennis Edozie, S. O. Ekpe and Okechukwu Opene the building continued its historical run by first housing the Court. A Court of Appeal in Calabar facilitated our appellate practice and enhanced the number of those who became eligible for taking silk, including me. I bring this in because like the High Court Ogoja the state’s Fire Service could not help. I pray that the relic of the Ogoja High Court should not torment our memories and sensibilities like the relic of the Court of Appeal, Calabar.
It is now an opportunity for both Courts to be rebuilt. Mercifully, I am told that the unmitigated disaster that the Ogoja inferno would have been, was mitigated by the recovery of the records – thank God. It is also time for government to properly address the state’s Fire Service that has been reduced from fighting fires, from fire prevention and suppression to selling water. May something good come out of this tragedy.
Ndoma-Egba, OFR, CON, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was leader of the 7th. Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A Life Bencher, he is currently the Pro Chancellor and Chairman, Federal University, Oye Ekiti.
