By Awa Kalu, SAN

This column has hosted several tributes to many illustrious members of the legal profession- lawyers and judges alike. A few weeks ago, the column belonged to Hon. Justice Chukwudifu Akunne Oputa, retired Chief Judge of Imo State, and former Justice of the Supreme Court whose recent interment generated a sense of celebration and an inestimable momentum for those who work hard and live well. Only last week, this column celebrated the life and times of another titan, Honourable Justice Kalu O. Anyah, (rtd) OFR, who died recently at the ripe old age of 93 years.

Today, we must pay respect to the memory of late Chief Chike Ofodile, SAN, OFR, a great Bar man, and celebrated legal Practitioner who took silk in 1979 in the group of Chief G.C.M. Onyiuke, Chief B. Olowofeku, and Chief H.A. Lardner, all deceased. The only surviving member of that quintet is Professor A.B. Kasumu, SAN.
Occasionally, while preparing a piece in honour of a departed member of the legal profession, one would be compelled to pause for a minute or so to reflect on the dimensions occasioned by death. According to Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) French philosopher (Julie, or the New Eloise), ‘He who pretends to look on death without fear lies.

All men are afraid of dying, this is the great law of sentient beings, without which the entire human species would soon be destroyed’. You may disagree but another French writer and philosopher, Voltaire (François-Marie Arouel; 1694-1778 in the Oxford Book of Death (D.J. Enright) acknowledged that ‘the human race is the only one that knows it must die, and it knows this only through its experience.

A child brought up alone and transported to a desert Island would have no more idea of death then a cat or a plant’. Certainly, a tribute to the dearly departed is not always a narrative about death but essentially, represents something, such as a speech, gift etc, that is said or given as an expression of praise, thanks, admiration, affection etc. In addition, the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary also recoginses a tribute as ‘a sign or evidence of something valuable, effective, worthy of praise…’. The late Onowu Chike Ofodike, SAN, OFR, definitely left large footprints on the proverbial sands of his time.

Born in the legendary city of Onitsha on 20th November, 1921 to his father, Ofodile Ezeugo and his mother Umunebe, the late Onowu Iyesele Chike Ofodile attended infant school ‘at his neighbourhood’s Immanuel Church School, then St. Mary’s Primary School and Christ the King College (CKC), all in Onitsha’. As was the case in his days, a stint as a Teacher at Holy Trinity School, Onitsha waterside followed inevitably.

Life’s sojourn took him to the defunct P & T (Posts and Telegraphs) Department as a staff and his tour of duty took him to different parts of Nigeria such as Lagos, Enugu, Abakaliki, Bende and lastly, Aba. With such tour of duty, his generation knew their country, Nigeria, very well. In life, those who show ambition are usually rewarded and Onowu Chike Ofodile was no exception. In that regard, the late titan resigned his appointment with the P & T in 1954 and diligently found his way to the United Kingdom to study the best course in the world-law. In 1959, he was called to the Bar at the middle Temple.

His legal teeth were cut in the chambers of his illustrious cousin, late Justice Ikepeazu, who at the material time was known as Barrister Chuba Ikpeazu, QC. On record, most lawyers of his era had extensive litigation practice in various parts of Nigeria including the Western Cameroons. When Barrister Chuba Ikpeazu, QC was elevated as a Judge, the late Onowu had to pick the gauntlet to fight numerous legal battles and his doggedness resulted in celebrated cases which presently litter the law reports. Chief A.N. Onyiuke III v. G.E. Okeke (1973) vol. 3 (pt.11) ECSLR 685 is one of such cases. In that case, the Plaintiff had sold to the defendant during the civil war and within the secessionist enclave 110 tins of palm-oil for the price of 1,650 Biafran pounds.

This sum was never paid, and the plaintiff claimed the contract sum in the same amount of Nigerian currency. It was pleaded on behalf of the defendant that the contract was illegal and unenforceable since Biafran currency was not at the time of suit, legal tender. It was held, in favour of the plaintiff, that the transaction was not illegal by reason only that the medium of exchange (the consideration) was an unauthorized currency.

It was further held that a contract entered into in the defunct republic of Biafra was not lpso facto illegal and that a distinction had to be draw between a contract formulated and completed in Biafra, and a contract entered into in Biafra which is executor or partially completed or not performed at all in Biafra. The learned trial Judge validated a legal truism, namely, that on grounds of necessity and/or public policy, the binding effect of a contract completed in Biafra cannot be called into question. However, the trial Judge took the further view that ‘a contract entered into in Biafra with Biafran currency as its consideration which was not performed or only partially performed could not at the time of suit, be enforced, since its supporting consideration had totally failed by reason of its non existence since the end of the civil war’.