The famed human rights activist is seen as another irrefutable change agent the present dispensation may not afford to ignore in its change project, writes Correspondent, SAM NWOKORO.
Olisa Agbakoba is a household name, not only within the legal profession where he belongs, but also principally in the comity of rights activists.
A global citizen by merit and a home-grown patriot, Agbakoba has maintained a consistency of strong and inimitable character. Along with the likes of Femi Falana (SAN), the late Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), Mike Ozekhome, Wole Soyinka, the late Alfred Rewane and others, he could be said to have fought the good fight.
Born on May 29, 1953 to Chief Justice Godfrey Ubaka and Mrs. Phina Agbakoba in Jos, this legal icon later moved to Onitsha in 1965, two years before the Nigerian civil war. He is a maritime lawyer but more popularly known as a human rights activist in the Nigerian human rights movement in the 1990s. He was president of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
Most Nigerians believe Agbakoba is one of the principal change agents in the country today, which a government that has predicated its coming to power on purging Nigeria of moral quacks and leeches cannot ignore.
A life allergic to wrongs
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) has been an unrepentant advocate of a just and equitable order. He seems to dream of a condition of life whereby everyone can possibly obtain whatever he or she desires in life without any obstacle thrown on his way by man or even nature. Such is the depth of goodness a man can wish fellow men. The depth of goodwill he harbours for fellow men is easily discernible in his public discourses, social engagements and even in his trade, the legal profession, whose operators are generally identified by their disturbing proclivity for ‘smartness’.
Agbakoba has an extraordinary insight into social conditions. Perhaps that informs his early engagement into social activism: for a better Nigeria. He has done more than his contemporaries in the advancement of worthy values and nobler virtues. He is an introverted social realist: the foundation must be well laid before the super-structure could withstand stresses. Which was why he has spoken passionately, not out of selfish pecuniary benefits (for he was just a one-man chamber lawyer when he embraced political and social activism in the early 1980s).
His spirit seems allergic to wrongs and injustice. Which is why he was one of the first people that advanced the practice of pro bono services to aggrieved citizens who could not afford the cost of legal services.
A life of daring activism
Even as some Nigerians today still debate on the significance of ‘June 12’ and the events surrounding it, history cannot forget the role the likes of Agbakoba played in the agitation for the revalidation of Abiola’s mandate. The failure of the Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha administrations to obey the people’s voice recharged the campaign of the pro-democracy activists in which Agbakoba was a prominent player against continued military rule in the country.
Chief Agbakoba, along with his friend, the late Alao Aka-Bashorun and Falana suffered years of incarceration from military juntas of the past. Their struggles did not go in vain because those agitations helped hasten the military’s exit.
Nation-builder
University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) and several others have variously honoured the legal luminary for his invaluable contribution to Nigeria.
Portion of the citation when he was being conferred with the SAN title read: “Agbakoba has distinguished himself in his chosen profession and has contributed immensely in building Nigeria’s modern democracy, especially in the formulation of good laws for the good governance and rule of law in Nigeria, apart from his many contributions in availing the downtrodden justice through his chamber, HURILAWS.”
As a patriot, he never got tired of pointing the way forward for Nigeria. In the new dispensation Agbakoba has in his characteristic manner pointed out those areas the new president needs to focus his attention, to deliver his change promises to Nigerians. According to him, the president should embark on “new national order of doing things, constitutional reform, devolution of power, anti-corruption, diversification of the economy and driving new public revenue, maritime issues and aviation”.
He worries, like many other Nigerians, how easily big corporations come from other countries, do business here and within a short time here begin to rake in fortunes, while local businesses groan over sundry regulatory issues. Worse, these companies hastily remit their quick profits home without thinking through value-chain investment in the Nigerian economy, something the SAN considers abnormal, considering today’s market age when nations jealously guard against the mercantilist grab-all mentality of transnational companies. “How can any serious policy plan allow such a leak whereby companies from other lands come here, open business, rake money and go without putting in anything?” he queried.
For a man who singlehandedly propounded and promoted the idea of the Cabotage Act meant to empower local maritime players in vessel acquisition, nothing could be further from the truth in his opinion on the economy.
His contribution to orderly political arrangement also gave impetus to the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration to convoke the national conference. He lectured during the confab debate: “At last, the sovereign authorities have accepted the need for a national conference. Civil society in Nigeria has always insisted that only the people of Nigeria can authenticate, legitimise and endorse a constitution to govern their affairs. Unfortunately, this simple wish was always denied by the colonial, military, and even elected governments. So Jonathan’s independence declaration is a major milestone. Civil society has always stated that a national conference is a vital requirement for a people’s constitution for Nigeria.”
He spoke further on the essence of the conference: “I would readily adopt Dr Alex Ekwueme’s recommendation that the new structure should be based on our six geo-political zones. I would further recommend further devolution of power from the central government to the state governments. This is called the principle of subsidiarity. If we accept this basic conceptual framework, it would then be easy to constitutionalise the political arrangements into a people’s constitution.”
Agbakoba attended Government Primary School, Jos, from 1959 to 1960; Hillcrest School, Jos, 1961; Government Primary School Jos, 1962 to 1963; Zixton Public School, Ozubulu, in 1964 and Christ the King College, Onitsha, between 1966 and 1967. Agbakoba also attended College of Immaculate Conception, Enugu, from 1970 to 1972; Government College, Ughelli, 1973; University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), 1973 to 1977, Nigerian Law School, Lagos, 1978; and London School of Economics and Political Science 1979 to 1980. He holds an LLB (Hons) of UNN, BL of the Nigerian Law School and LLM (1980) of the University of London.
Fresh out of law school, he served as a research fellow in the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA)’s Law and Intelligence Department. Agbakoba left NIIA after a year and formed his own law firm, Olisa Agbakoba and Associates, which specialises in commercial and maritime law. He has also been a key leader in the country’s pro-democracy movement, and is the President of Afronet, an international NGO dedicated to furthering the human rights cause. He is also a Principal Partner and founder of Human Rights Law Services (HURILAWS) an NGO that specialises in advocacy and law.
He is also the founder of Nigeria’s foremost human rights organisation, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO). He became known through his work in human rights and democracy movement in Nigeria. He was also the founder of United Action for Democracy (UAD) and the Zambian pan-African human rights organisation, AfroNet. He was a defender for the civil rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed by Abacha.
In 1990, he was honoured with Roger Baldwin Medal for Civil Liberties. Also in 1993, he was honoured with the Human Rights Award of the German Association of Judges and in 1996 he was given the Aachen Peace Award.
Other awards and honours include the receipt of the 15 Great Legal Practitioners of Distinction in Nigeria (1993), Vanguard’s 40 Outstanding Young Nigerians Award (1993), Fellow and award recipient, Institute of Administrative Management of Nigeria; Co-director, British Council Conference on Managing Human Rights, Abuja; the International Human Rights Award of the American Bar Association, in recognition of extraordinary contributions to the causes of Human Rights; the Rule of Law and Promotion of Access to Justice (1996); Dr. Kwame Nkrumah African Leadership awards in 2006 and FRA Williams Legal Practitioner of the year 2006 amongst others.
Among his major publications are Federal High Court Practice Manual (published by Lexixnexis South Africa); Maritime Newsletter (volumes one and two); Manual on Election Petition in Nigeria; Maritime Cabotage in Nigeria; Bankruptcy Proceedings in Nigeria; Development Law Books (in three volumes); Towards A People’s Constitution in Nigeria; and Transcending the Wall: A manual for Prisoners Reform.
Others are: The Legal basis of the organisation of African Unity Force in the Chad; Journal of International Law, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs 1981; Journal of Human Rights Law and Practice: Nigeria’s State Security (detention of persons) Decree No 2 of 1984; Exposing the Myth of Judicial Impotence with Tunde Fagbohunlu (1991), Incursions into the Legal Profession, the way out speech given at the conference on the reform of civil adjudication, Lagos, December 1995; The Statute of Limitation in Admiralty Proceedings: A Case for Fresh Initiatives in Maritime Laws and Reforms in Marine Insurance Law, among many others.
Agbakoba, who lives in Lagos, is married to Lilian Agbakoba, also a lawyer by profession. The union is blessed with three daughters and four grandchildren.