Bamidele Aturu’s many ideologically deep analysis were laden with sincerity. He is not known to espouse one thing in public and thereafter do things fundamentally opposite in private practice.
To him, service to God was essentially to be found in how well you serve humanity’s cause especially those of the cheated, dispossessed and impoverished. His practice of Law was thus dedicated to ventures that advance these noble ideals.
He was courageous and genuine.When he percieved there were a ‘catalogue of errors’ in the circumstances that knitted some sort of degeneracy into the judicial crises in Rivers State- he spoke frankly, and ably identified where he felt each participant went wrong, without mincing words or being needlessly patronising. On the need for democracy at the Bar, he spoke very frankly against what he termed ‘Cabalisation of the NBA’.
Though an ultra-conservative may disagree with him, prescient thinkers can well tell that Bamidele Aturu would be proved right someday that there can be no progress without genuine democracy.When he saw a need for the Justice system to learn from the conduct of the South African system in the ongoing Oscar Pistorius Trial, he drove home his points on gender equity, Counsel and Judicial conduct etc, in his characteristically firm, unpatronising manner. It is public knowledge that he has taken up countless cases in defence of many dispossessed workers and oppressed artisans. His Chambers also organises an annual Law and Social Development Lecture Series which are part of his efforts at driving home the point that Law is only useful, if it is used in the service of the people.His regular interventions will surely be inspiration for many as the details of his life and times gradually engender deeper reflections in the years ahead. He has lived his principles from the time of his first notably recorded intervention, i.e; his courageous refusal to accept a handshake from one of the then symbols of democratic subversion as represented by Military Administrators, during his National Youth Service days.
So, one may sum up, among many other imperishable deeds, that the golden threads running through Aturu’s forthright messages are: (i) Imperative of the military to remain subject to civilian authority. (ii) True democracy as a condition precedent to be enthroned in every facet of public life to achieve real development and (iii). The dismantling of all retrogressive policies and laws that foster primitive income and social inequality within the society. All these clearly testify to an activism driven by deep ideological convictions.In all, I think the deliberate under-development of this Country by those ruling it obviously put pressure on those who have taken it upon themselves to shoulder the difficult burden of trying to agitate and raise public consciousness to avert an imminent collapse. One of those who sincerely shouldered such burdens of conscience was Aturu. May his courageous soul be free of burdens. May he rest in undisturbed peace and may those inflicting under-development on Nigerians never know peace until the mass of the people eventually find their voices, and if need be, also their arms and ideas, to take back their country’s dignity and to restore the humanity of all its citizens.
Adieu Aturu.
