Why Nigeria Deserves a Chika Anyiam
Driving through the city of Dallas and seeing political sign posters at this time of the political era is not something strange, but coming across a campaign poster with a beautiful name which you are sure is not of a white person, makes a huge difference and leaves an eternally great feeling both in the hearts of those home and away. ‘Chika Anyiam for District Judge’. I know it’s only someone from my homeland that can have such name. The first question that popped out of my mind was: ‘Is this Chika Anyiam a man or a woman? This was because of the stereotyped belief that some achievements and honours are majorly masculine.
Out of curiosity, I started my search for this ‘man’ and eventually saw that the ‘man’ Chika I was looking for, was actually a woman! This further encouraged me to insist on meeting her and having some minutes of educative interaction with her. I searched for her Facebook contact and sent her a message which in utmost sincerity was not expecting an immediate response to, because the period in which I sent the message was the period for the primaries of the Democratic Party and I knew just too well that she would be busy and may not be available to respond to a message from an unknown source, bearing a Nigerian name. Also, I was not expecting much because many Nigerian big names in the United States treat their fellow ‘upcoming’ country mates like nonentities which only stemmed out of a common act back home in Nigeria where I grew in which most political figures don’t want to meet an ordinary citizen for any reason. But the unexpected happened. Chika Anyiam, a public figure of a highly reputable status, responded with a message dropping her personal phone contact for me and with the same message, offering me an immediate appointment to meet up for a chat in her office! You can imagine how dumbfounded and happy I was at the same time. When I got to her, I concluded in less than ten minutes that I had met one of the finest characters I have come across in the last couple of years. I went to her law firm, Anyiam and Anyiam Attorneys at Law from where she practices along with her spouse. I was there with a couple of prepared questions in a paper which I wanted her to respond to but her intelligence and finesse turned it to a chat which gave me more insight into her activities and gave me well needed relaxation while being schooled on very interesting issues.
Chika Anyiam is originally from Imo State in Nigeria. She studied law and was called to bar in Nigeria, after which she practiced for about seven years before she moved to the United States with her family. She has been practicing law in the State of Texas for the past 18 years, carving out her own niche among the top guns in law in the state. She is a public advocate and she renders pro bono legal services to as many that have approached her law office for assistance with proven issues of financial problems. Research shows that about sixty percent of her legal services have been for the underprivileged. In her words she said, “when I joined the law body in the state of Texas, there were not many foreigners practicing criminal law in the state as at the time, but with an undaunted belief in my ability to make things happen around me, coupled with an unshakable determination to succeed in this land, I decided to join the field after excelling in both family and immigration laws.”
Today, she is not just an ordinary attorney in the Dallas legal circle but she has made a name for herself everywhere she steps. She is qualified to try all degrees of criminal defense issues in the region and the most attractive and perplexing thing is that she has twice in a row, been voted by the Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association as the best in 2014 and 2015, and she is also qualified by all the 17 Criminal District Judges in the region to practice in the criminal defense court. She said: “I have succeeded along with other colleagues”. She didn’t just rise to the height of contesting for the seat of a District Judge in the United States but she made this possible through her hard-work and devout commitments to God and humanity.
During my few minutes with Chika, she revealed that she was a law school classmate with former Akwa Ibom State governor, Senator Godswill Akpabio. She is a community leader and motivator whose thirst for success is contacted by everyone who comes across her. Chika is a member of various professional groups, and her intention to contest for the seat of district judge 2 in Dallas was endorsed by various bodies and professional organizations.
My Interest in Chika Anyiam
Chika is a happy wife and a loving mother of four, yet she is an achiever in everything she has put her name and hands on. She shares the same office complex with her husband whom she has been married to for 24 great years. She is a leading example for young ones of today, especially the young and budding professionals-to-be, who may think marriage is a stumbling block towards climbing the stairs of success.
I am of the strong opinion that Chika is a needed personality in Nigeria, where she will use her versatility, strength and experience to build the law body in Nigeria. There are many successful individuals of Nigerian descent everywhere in the world but they are never available to serve their people. Mrs. Anyiam has expressed her interest in service to humanity everywhere she has been, and her prowess and unquenchable thirst to get better at what she does, will go a long way in filling up the loopholes in the Nigerian criminal justice system. In our discussion, she discussed how willing she is to help develop the court clerks and the paralegal system in the country. She can’t achieve this in isolation. People like her should be encouraged to assist in reshaping the system even if not at the federal level but in the state. She has a great resume and her deep understanding of the legal system will allow her to function perfectly well in any assignment thrown on her table. Let the Nigerian system find a way of bringing our numerous experienced, committed and tested-and-trusted ‘Chika Anyiams’ back to the shores of our land to serve just as they have already done in foreign lands.
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