An 82-year-old widow, Lady Juliana Onuorah, has said she did not give her land to the Catholic Church, as the church is claiming.
The widow spoke yesterday at Ogidi High Court in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Lady Onuorah and her only daughter, Patricia, sued the Archbishop of Onitsha, Rev Valerian Okeke – and six others – over their alleged claim to the property at Nkpor.
At the continuation of the matter yesterday, Justice Vincent Agbata stopped one of the lawyers to the defendants, C. J. Asiegbu, from intimidating the widow.
The situation spurred the judge to tell the counsel to take a new date for continuation of proceedings.
The lawyer chose July 3.
The judge was said to have discovered that the old woman had become weak in the witness box.
The Catholic Archbishop, who was absent, was represented by Anthony Anaenugwu (SAN), who led Asiegbu and others; Theodore Udochi led S. O. Oni for the plaintiffs.
When Asiegbu asked Lady Onuorah if she signed a document signifying that she gave her land to the church in 1990, she emphatically said she did not.
Again, the counsel asked if her husband signed the document, but the woman said she was not aware of such development.
Lady Onuorah said she used to spell “Our Ladies” as her school and bakery outfits’ name, adding that she could no longer do so.
She said the disputed land was her property, which she bought with her money many years ago.
The widow recalled that there was never a time she signed a document with the church on the disputed land.
Also, Lady Onuorah denied instructing Emilia Enemuo to prepare a power of attorney on the disputed land.
When Asiegbu asked her if she had any problem with the Catholic Church before her daughter, Patricia, returned from United States of America (U.S.A), Lady Onuorah said the church had been disturbing her.
When the defendant’s lawyer reminded her that she had appeared in a High Court before, Udochi urged the court to direct Asiegbu to restrict his questions to the pleaded documents.
Justice Agbata sustained the plea, but told Asiegbu that the old woman had become weak and should be given time.
The judge now adjourned the matter till July 3 for continuation.
WHY does politics always get in the way all the time?
We do not seem to know where to draw the line between our interests and our sense of patriotism. That was what happened on Monday when the two main factions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) tore at each other over the process that led to the release of 82 Chibok girls who had spent about three years in Boko Haram’s captivity.
The PDP, needless to say, is like the proverbial dog whose ears were deaf to the hunter’s whistle. The self-proclaimed largest party in Africa is wracked by an internecine war from which it may not survive. Pity. But that is by the way.
The Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee denounced the swapping of the girls with some Boko Haram commanders. “We do not think that exchanging innocent girls for hardened criminals like the terrorists is the right thing to do,” the party said in a statement dripping with disdainful conceit.
It was obviously meant to douse the excitement that greeted the release of the girls. It didn’t. In fact, some cynical fellows began to redefine who a criminal is and who should be swapped for whom. Some of them suggested our senators, those distinguished fellows making laws for our well-being whose dangerous job is never appreciated–in cash and kind. Are senators criminals? I really don’t get that.
In a tough language, the Federal Government descended on the faction. It described its criticism as indecent and inhuman. Could the PDP, Makarfi faction that is, have preferred that the government paid for the release of the girls? What is wrong with swapping, an internationally accepted process? Must the party talk just to remind its supporters that it is still alive and kicking?
Not to be left out, the Ali Modu Sheriff faction of the troubled party joined the fray. It lashed out at its rival and dismissed its criticism as unnecessary. Besides, it reminded us that the Dr Goodluck Jonathan administration started it all. It was ready to swap the girls with some Boko Haram elements.
Spokesman Cairo Ojougboh spoke of how a World Bank consultant approached Chief Edwin Clark, the one who was Jonathan’s dad until it was as clear as day that an electoral waterloo was imminent. Clark, an inventive community leader – cunning, his critics insist – disowned Jonathan and called him a weakling who failed to fight corruption. Permit my diversion.
Clark got Jonathan’s nod to pursue the matter. The process collapsed even before it began, as it later turned out.
There were even rumours of the loss of a fortune–in dollars–to fake negotiators. Jonathan made at least two quick visits to Chad. All to no avail. I hope the former president will oblige us of the details of his trips to Chad someday when he takes time off the lecture circuit to write his memoirs.
Nobody, not the least the distraught parents of the girls, cared about how they were retrieved. To them, it was an emotional issue; not one for political gymnastics.
What should be of great concern is how to secure the release of the remaining girls. We should also spare a thought for the future of the freed girls. Many of them look good, unlike those released earlier by the terrorists. How was Boko Haram able to keep them so? Do they have good doctors? How do they get their drugs and other supplies?
That the evil sect still has the capacity to keep such a huge number of captives without detection should be a big puzzle to the intelligence community. Could they have done this without the collaboration of some of our neighbours?
We were told that 83 girls were actually freed, but one refused to accept freedom. She elected to stay with Boko Haram. This is absurd. Why will a young girl choose to stay in a strange land, far away from her parents and friends? Is she radicalised? Is she scared of the stigmatisation that may follow her return from the den of the dreaded sect? Has she found affection in the place? Is she old enough to experience true affection?
What rational decision can a teenager snatched off her dormitory by terrorists and forced to go through unpleasant, sometimes brutal, situations for three years take? Is it a matter of honour? A university undergraduate recently committed suicide because she was accused of stealing. That is strange in a country where people go to court to claim their loot after being caught pants down having their hands in the till.
It is not yet clear which of the Boko Haram factions released the girls. We have heard tales of how Abubakar Shekau, the brutal leader of one of the factions, got killed, injured and killed again, the latest being that he was injured in an air bombardment of a gathering of the infernal sect’s members. Every time he was pronounced injured or dead, Shekau, loquacious and uncouth, returned to threaten more assaults. So where is Shekau?
President Muhammadu Buhari deserves commendation for the return of these innocent ones. His critics – and some of his admirers, I dare say – prefer to talk about his ill health rather than focus more on the gains of his administration, no matter how little they have been. Looters are grumbling as they give account in court. The terrorists have, no doubt, been weakened to the point that we are now talking about an end to the hostilities.
The girls were snatched off under the watch of a government headed by a healthy president who woke up too late to the reality of the situation. The then government’s response was the subject of many beer parlour jokes and barber shop talks.
Many will recall how the former First Lady, Mrs Patience Fakabelema Jonathan, summoned a meeting at the Villa. She broke down on television, sobbing: “Prinspal, do you come with two teachers? Ehn? You were not informed too? Kotinuu. No problem. God will see us. There is God. There is God in everything we are doing. Those blood that are sharing in Boronu will answer.
“What of two teachers. WAYEC, two teachers …ehn two, ehn what of two teachers who can tell us that they conducted that exam? Do you come with any? Prinspal, no too?
“You, only you waka come. Okay. Now the First Lady is calling you: come I want to help you. Come to find ya child, your missing child. Will you keep quiet? Chei!Chei! There is God o! There is God o! The bloods we are sharing. There is God o…”
What is all that? The administration reduced the tragedy to politics and responded with sickening drama. Jonathan did not believe that over 200 girls could be trucked away just like that. By the time the government woke up to the terrible reality of the girls’ forced departure, the trucks had gone far and deep into the hellish Sambisa forest.
There is no need for the PDP factions to fight over this momentous event. They should find other decent ways of asserting supremacy since they seem to be impatient for the Supreme Court’s pronouncement on their battle for the party.
Must politics be seen in every situation, no matter how grave or sacred?
Coordinator: A lexical analysis
LEGAL experts have dismissed as unnecessary the fuss over President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter to the Senate on his medical vacation. He says in his absence, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will coordinate the government’s activities. To Senator Mao Ohuabunwa (Abia North), that is not enough. Buhari should have said specifically that Prof. Osinbajo will be Acting President.
What is the ambiguity in this? Is the letter written in Latin? Section 145 of the Constitution is clear as to what should be done in this situation. When the President sends a letter to the National Assembly, it is automatic that the Vice President steps in. We dissipate so much energy on trivial issues. The 2017 budget is yet to be passed. Other matters remain pending.
There are suggestions that a cabal may have been behind the style of the letter that sparked the seeming ambiguity. That is neither here nor there. The nomenclature is not important. Coordinator. Collaborator. Harmoniser. Hibernator. Acting President. Whatever. It is all semantics. No need for a lexical analysis. In plain language, Osinbajo is Acting President. Is that clear, senator?
The invisible and unmistaken hand of God, the Creator, moulds the universe deliberately to different vessels of honour. However, it seems some are more generously endowed by God than others. But the most endowed are those who make of their talents and position enabling the less privileged.
Such is the Hon. Justice Emmanuel Olayinka Ayoola, CON, JSC (retd), the multi-talented Legal Practitioner and internationally acclaimed Jurist, an epitome of decency and a towering model of a quintessential gentleman who has succeeded in all his and endeavours; a loving father, an uncommon mentor and successful manager of men and resources who has touched the lives of many as a lawyer, judge, public servant since he was called to the English Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in London in November 1957.
An Alumnus of the revered University of London, where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws Degree and also of Oxford University where he obtained another Bachelor’s Degree in Jurisprudence in 1959, the stuff the erudite Hon. Justice Ayoola, a former Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) is made of became manifest early in his very brilliant and luxuriant career.
For 17 years, he, together with his elder brother, OluAyoola of blessed memory, had a flourishing private legal practice in Ibadan, Oyo State until February 1976 when he was most deservedly appointed to the High Court of Western Nigeria as a Judge and soon after, a Judge of the High Court of Oyo State. That was the time brilliant lawyers were invited to the bench and not appointed from application.
Our paths crossed each other in 1963 when I approached the popular Chambers of Ayoola Brothers for my tutelage after arriving from England with a Bachelor’s Degree in Law. It was not difficult for me to know that with his uncommon brilliance, calmness, diligence and determination as well as his willingness to apply himself to work, he would make it to the top very rapidly. I saw in him a man sold to industry, commitment with an unbending will for people around him to succeed.
A man internationally sought-after, the incorruptible judge served as a Justice of the Court of Appeal of The Gambia from and later as Chief Justice of The Gambia. He was Vice President of the World Judges Association in 1991.
• Justice Ayoola
A man of commendable candour, Justice Ayoola was President of the Court of Appeal of Seychelles and Justice of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria (1992-1998), Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (1998–2003) before he bowed out of service in October 2003 at the mandatory age of 70.
After his national and international exploits and achievements in the Judiciary particularly because of the sterling qualities inherent in him, he was in 2004 made Chairman of the ad-hoc Presidential Action Committee on the Control of Violent Crimes and Illegal Firearms. He served as Chairman, Governing Council of the National Human Rights Commission in 2005 until he was appointed Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission later the same year. Currently, he is a member of the National Judicial Council and Chairman of the Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee of that Council.
In 2002, the Secretary-General of the United Nations appointed Justice Ayoola a Judge of the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, a court set up to try those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Sierra Leone Civil War. He was President of the Court from 2004 to 2005. It was in that capacity that he addressed the Security Council of the United Nations in 2005.
In his quest for deeper meaning in life and his desire to live beyond the mundane material things which many mortals settle for, at some point, Justice Ayoola was Chairman of the Governing Council of the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, an International NGO based in Banjul, The Gambia.
A prolific writer and an advocate of an egalitarian society, he has edited the Seychelles Law Digest, the Law Reports of the Gambia, and the Nigerian Monthly Law Reports. Justice Ayoola is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies; Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Nigeria); Doctor of Civil Law [DCL] honoris causa) Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso and Dr. of Laws, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD).
In appreciation of his sterling contributions to Jurisprudence, he was honoured with the award of the Gambian National Honour of Commander of the National Order of the Republic of the Gambia [CRG] in 1990; and the Award of the Nigerian National Honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger [CON] in 2003.
He is an unrepentant lover of our University, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti. The place and import of the Hon. Justice Ayoola’s love for ABUAD and my humble self will forever remain green and indelible.
At the time the University was still struggling to find his feet, Justice Ayoola, as the Chairman of ICPC, led a 14-man team of ICPC staff to ABUAD on July 28, 2010 and left the following words in our history book: “This is an institution which can stand side by side with any educational institution in the world. This is a pace setter. It raises the benchmark for quality education in Nigeria. There is no doubt that the shaping of the direction of education in Nigeria has started. ABUAD is and will remain the leader in this direction”.
Indeed, this prophetic statement from this great man, an acclaimed International Jurist, an incorruptible Judge, a moralist Judge, a Christian Judge, a former Justice of the Court of Appeal of The Gambia, a former Chief Justice of The Gambia, a former President of the Court of Appeal of Seychelles, a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, a former ICPC Chairman, a true lover and supporter of ABUAD’s dream and vision, has since become a reality. Stakeholders all over the world including UNESCO have acknowledge the Afe Babalola University as a ‘World Class University’.
The incorruptibility and moralist inclination of the Hon. Justice Ayoola is not a later day development as that has been part of his persona as far back as his days in Legal Practice. No wonder then that our common mentor and his own elder brother, the mercurial Hon. Justice Olu Ayoola of blessed memory, had this to say about the two us (Hon. Ayoola and my humble self) on page 23 of his Book titled: Olu Ayoola: Fifty Years in Law: “With the use of appropriate technique, even though I started practice as a single Lawyer establishment, the chamber rapidly grew in fame and became a multi-lawyer chambers. We thereby, as it were, took a big leap from “the cold waters uncertainties of fluctuating fees” of a young private practice to the security of a prosperous chamber.
“From the performances of our weekly conference of lawyers, I was able to assess the progress, ability and aptitude of each lawyer. I must mention two who were among the best; namely: my brother, Emmanuel Olayinka Ayoola, who is presently a Judge of the Court of Appeal, Nigeria. He was a brilliant lawyer with a moralist bent. Sometimes, he would come to me and say after going through a brief allotted to him “the defence of our client is good in law, but why shouldn’t he pay the debt which he appears, law apart, to owe?” and I would retort “we, as lawyers, are concerned with his defence as a matter of law: we are not concerned with his liability on moral grounds”. Where he felt not too bright about the brief, I will take it and allocate it to some other under-study.
“Another brilliant lawyer was Afe Babalola (he is now a Senior Advocate of Nigeria). He was and still very hard working. A lover of legal analysis, he usually saw through fine points which others did not see. I believe in taking fine legal points”.
The God-given gifts of incorruptibility and moral uprightness as well as forthrightness must have accounted to a very large extent in his being noticed, acknowledged and appointed the arrow-head of the ICPC after his retirement from the Supreme Court Bench. After all, it is only the deep that can call to the deep just like it is only iron that can sharpen iron!
He is an example per excellence, a cerebral, good natured, committed and an excellent team player who is always willing to help the needy.
My Learned Mentor and Leader should see and acknowledge the attainment of the matured age of 82 as a special grace from the Almighty God and a veritable opportunity for him to do more in his service to a nation which he loves so much and indeed to humanity, the fulcrum of his dream.
While congratulating him most heartily on this momentous occasion, I wish him good health and peace of heart as well as divine wisdom to continue the good works and to continually be relevant in the scheme of things in Nigeria, and beyond.
Legendary fashion designer, Oscar de la Renta, whose intricate and over-the-top gowns were for years a fixture of the social and political establishment, died on Monday. He was 82.De la Renta died surrounded by family, friends and “more than a few dogs,” according to a handwritten statement signed by his stepdaughter, Eliza Reed Bolen, and her husband, Alex Bolen, and given to The Associated Press. The statement did not specify the cause of her death.
“While our hearts are broken by the idea of life without Oscar, he is still very much with us. Oscar’s hard work, his intelligence and his love of life are at the heart of our company,” the statement said.
Born in the Dominican Republic, de la Renta began his career working for Cristóbal Balenciaga, a Spanish couturier. He broke off on his own in 1967, launching his eponymous line in a shop on New York’s 7th Avenue where the company is still headquartered. Over the next 49 years, he dressed first ladies, including the last four and presided over a social life that included pop stars and political heavyweights. He was known as a perfectionist, and he was working almost to the end, having most recently designed the wedding dress of Amal Alamuddin, George Clooney’s new wife.
The Clinton family praised de la Renta’s “singular talent and exquisite taste,” saying that they will always be grateful for the love the designer showed their family.
“His warmth and friendship will be missed by our family and all whose lives he touched in his extraordinary journey,” they said in a statement. “Oscar’s remarkable eye was matched only by his generous heart.”
Former First Lady Laura Bush said she and her husband were “deeply saddened” by the loss of their “dear friend.”
“We will miss Oscar’s generous and warm personality, his charm and his wonderful talents,” she said in a statement. “We will always remember him as the man who made women look and feel beautiful.”
De la Renta is survived by his second wife, the socialite Annette Engelhard de la Renta. His first wife, Françoise de Langlade, died in 1983 of cancer. He had no children. But just last week, it was announced that he had selected a successor-the designer, Peter Copping, who was going to work with him
