*TRIBUTE IN HONOUR OF THE LATE, THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE MUHAMMADU LAWAL UWAIS, GCON, CHIEF JUSTICE OF NIGERIA (RETIRED)
The demise of His Lordship, the Honourable Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, GCON, on the day of Eid Al Adha, June 6, 2025, is a testament to His Lordship’s many good deeds.
I recall my first encounter with the Honourable Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, with nostalgia.
It was my first case at the Supreme Court of Nigeria, in Appeal No. SC. 99/1989 – J. B. Atunrase & 4 others V. Samuel Charles Oladipo Phillips & 8 others, which I “inherited” from Chief Samuel Olasupo Morohundiya (of blessed memory) and in which I was counsel to the 3rd to 6th Respondents.
The case, which was decided while I was still under ten years at the Bar, is reported as ATUNRASE VS. PHILLIP (1996) 1 NWLR (PART 427) PAGE 637 (SC). My Lords, Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, C.J.N. (Presided), Michael Ekundayo Ogundare, J.S.C. (Read the Leading Judgment), Uthman Mohammed, J.S.C., Yekini Olayinka Adio, J.S.C., Anthony Ikechukwu Iguh, J.S.C., heard the appeal and delivered judgment in favour of the Respondents on Tuesday, 16th January, 1996.
I was too soon to be later formally welcomed to the Supreme Court of Nigeria by my Lord, the Honourable, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, at the hallowed Chambers of the Supreme Court anytime I appeared, following my role as the Coordinating Secretary of the Committee of Chairmen and Secretaries of the Nigerian Bar Association Branches between 1996 to 1998 under the Chairmanship of Asiwaju Chief Solomon Adegboyega Awomolo SAN.
His Lordship, the Honourable Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, the Honourable, the Chief Justice of Nigeria and his bother Justices of the apex court gave every support to the work of the Committee of Chairmen and Secretaries of the Nigerian Bar Association which culminated with the successful hosting on Friday, 28 August, 1998, of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Conference held at the Abuja Sheraton Hotel at which the Nigerian Bar Association was brought back after the 1992 Port Harcourt crises of the Nigerian Bar Association.
Apart from his Lordship’s brilliance and services to the nation at the Supreme Court and as the Honourable, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Honourable Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais rose to the call of President, His Excellency, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, GCFR who on 28th August 2007 inaugurated a 22-member Electoral Reform Committee, of which the Honourable Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais was Chairman, to “examine the entire electoral process with a view of ensuring that we raise the quality and standard of our general elections and thereby deepen our democracy”. The report of the Committee, popularly referred to as the “Justice Uwais Panel report”, submitted in December 2008, though not publicly implemented, has been acclaimed as being far-reaching.
I however, know as the President of the University of Benin Alumni Association in 2007 that the Council of the University of Benin Alumni Association passed a resolution which was sent to the Justice Uwais Panel as it relates to the avoidance of Oath of Office being administered to a person who wins a re-run election to the Office of President or Governor. It is not too late to implement the Justice Uwais Panel report.
His Lordship had in 1997 encouraged me to apply for the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), but I did not. I am happy that His Lordship, the Honourable Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais was alive in 2020 when I eventually made the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, to justify His Lordship’s faith in me.
May Allah grant the good, kind and gentle soul of the Honourable Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais aljanah fir’daus, Ameen.
Adieu to a fine jurist and gentleman.
*Prince (Dr.) Richard Oma Ahonaruogho SAN
