Recent social media reports and insinuations surrounding the presence of a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in Benin City during the burial of the late Mrs. Caroline Uwaifo, mother of Mr. Hannibal Uwaifo, former President of the African Bar Association, are not only false and mischievous but very unfortunate and regrettable.
I know for a fact that Honourable Justice Inyang Okoro, JSC CFR was in Benin to attend the burial ceremony of the mother of my very dear friend, Hannibal Uwaifo, as an invited guest of Mr. Uwaifo. I was involved in the planning of the obsequies of our colleague’s late mother and attended all the events thereof and I know that His Lordship was in attendance both at the service of songs on Thursday, 12 June, 2025 and at the Funeral Service the following day, Friday, 13 June, 2025. The only event that I did not see His Lordship attend was the reception which followed the interment on Friday.
It is actually asinine to link His Lordship’s private visit to Benin for the burial of a friend’s mother to the impending Edo State gubernatorial appeal that, according to social media reports, has just meandered its way to the Supreme Court in Abuja.
To the knowledge of the purveyors of this slanderous attack on Honourable Justice Okoro, has the Chief Justice of Nigeria already empaneled the Justices to sit on the election appeal? What sense does it make to suggest that His Lordship left Abuja, the seat of the Supreme Court, and journeyed to Benin to lobby for inclusion in the panel for the hearing of the appeal? Could this be a preemptive strike by the purveyors of this smear campaign and their paymasters to ensure that His Lordship is not included in the panel, and to what end would that be? Are some people so petrified and scared of Honourable Justice Okoro that they would stop at nothing, not even a baseless straw story, to smear His Lordship?
It is refreshing and noteworthy that the Honourable Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Edo State, Dr. Samson Osagie has flatly denied the media reports and stated categorically that he did not meet with any judicial officer as alleged. I also find it quite instructive and indicative of the jaundiced and prejudiced motivation of these purveyors of smear campaign that they completely blanked out His Lordship’s attendance at the obsequies for the late mother of our friend, Hannibal Uwaifo. And yet His Lordship did not attend those events “nicodemously” or in camouflage.
I am also surprised that my good friend and brother, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, who is also a great friend of Hannibal and should know of Hannibal’s late mother’s burial ceremonies on the afore-stated dates, did not reach out to Hannibal to confirm the reason for His Lordship’s visit to Benin, seeing as His Lordship was publicly seen at those events.
I have always advocated that we, as lawyers, must not join in the mob vilification of the judiciary and our judicial officers. We all lose when we join the mob in denigrating our revered temple of justice without basis and with no proof of any infraction. This is one instance of such destructive and unwarranted denigration and smear campaign on our seat of justice and our revered Honourable Justice Inyang Okoro, JSC CFR.
▪️Dr M. O. Ubani is a legal practitioner and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN)
June 14, 2025.
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