Aguma, SAN: The Tears Keep Rolling Down

For me and hundreds of other Lawyers, who at one point or the other had personal and professional contact with Emmanuel Chinwenwo Aguma, SAN, the tears may not dry soon. I first met Mr. Aguma over a decade and half ago, a few years before he became NBA Port Harcourt Branch Chairman. His Self- effacing, easy-going and introverted nature, caught my initial curiosity, until my close interaction with him at the NBA elections and Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt in 2006.

As Chairman of the host Branch, Aguma hosted a party at his home, to which high profile legal personalities were invited. How I got invited to the party, I may never know, because I wouldn’t imagine that he held me in such high esteem, to count me worthy enough to be a guest at his personal party, alongside Senior Advocates, Branch Chairmen and Secretaries. The party featured the best of Rivers cuisine, assortment of wines and drinks, and cultural displays. At every occasion we met, I would always remind him of that party. It was one of a kind!

Before he was appointed the Attorney- General of Rivers State, he left no one in doubt that he was disenchanted with the political developments in the State, especially as they relate to the Judiciary. Our relationship had become so close that, I made it a point to attend his elevation to the Inner Bar, as Senior Advocate of Nigeria at the Supreme Court in Abuja on September 12, 2015.

He hit the ground running, when he was sworn in as Rivers State Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice in 2015 by the Nyesom Wike Administration. As would be expected, he rolled up his sleeves and dug in to clean the rot that had engulfed the Rivers State Ministry of Justice for many years. Aguma ensured that, the Courts resumed sitting after a two year hiatus during the Amaechi Administration, and that the rightful Chief Judge assumed office soon after.

With the expected litigious matters that trailed the assumption of that Administration, we had cause to telephone him to seek his reaction to the litigation He said, “Jude, we don’t fight legal battles on the pages of newspapers. Please, tell our distractors that we’ll rather fight our battles in court”. That was the quintessential Chinwe Aguma, few words, more action.

For months my Editor, Mrs. Onikepo Braithwaite and I, had sought to interview him for THISDAY LAWYER. After a long delay and several postponements, that interview eventually took place at Eko Hotel last August, during the Annual General Conference of the NBA in Lagos. At that interview, a well composed legal icon and encyclopaedia of Nigerian laws, spoke from the depth of his heart on sundry national issues, including his stewardship as A-G of Rivers State.

A few short weeks after we spoke on the telephone, my learned friend and brother, Mr. Emmanuel Chinwenwo Aguma, SAN has gone to be with the Lord. Even in grief, one is comforted with the fact that, Emmanuel made peace with his Maker before his untimely exit. Adieu. Rest in peace. Amen. Jude Igbanoi