How Court of Appeal lost mentor for 22 new justices – SANs

The chairman of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Paul Usoro, has bemoaned the loss of the services of the late justice of the Court of Appeal, Theresa Ngolika Orji-Abadua to the bench.

Usoro spoke during the valedictory session in honour of the late Justice Orji-Abadua in Abuja. He lamented that the jurist died at 64, six years short of 70 assigned by the Bible and created a gap in the appellate court and the mentoring and settling in of 22 new justices being appointed by the court.

He noted that apart from her four children, the jurist’s judgement immortalised her, adding, “My lord’s erudition and focus on nation-building shone through those judgements.”

In her speech, the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, said the jurist’s contributions to the development of law would continue to help in the growth of Nigeria’s jurisprudence.

She said: “His lordship (Justice Orji-Abadua) expounding on the jurisdiction of a court to hear and determine an action in the case of Bako V. Ila and others (2013) LPELR-22689 (CA) opined as follows: ‘It is trite that jurisdiction is the life-wire of any adjudicative body. It is the official power of the court to make legal decisions and judgements.”’  

Similarly, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), extolled the qualities of Justice Orji-Abadua, recalling that her “judgments and legal pronouncements were also characterised by meticulous analysis of the facts of each case.”