By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State have expressed grief over the death of the Nigerian Ambassador to the U.S., Justice Slyvanus Adiewere Nsofor, stressing that he was an outstanding judge.
President Buhari, represented by Governor Uzodinma, spoke after the funeral Mass in honour of the late Nsofor at his home town, Umudei Village in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria.
His words:. “The late Justice Nsofor was an outstanding Judge of a rare breed, who was well known for his courage, dedication, transparent, honesty, trustworthy and sense of justice and fairness.”
Buhari said that the late Nigerian Ambassador to the United States served the country diligently, positively, and projected the image of the country.
The president, who said that Nigeria has lost a nationalist, consoled the immediate and the entire Nsofor family on behalf of his family and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He urged the family to take solace in the knowledge that late “Nsofor lived a fulfilled life, reached the rightful age and left behind worthy legacies of selflessness and integrity in Public Service.”
In his address at the valedictory court session held at Court of Appeal Owerri Division earlier in the day, Governor of Uzodimma described the late Justice Nsofor as an “outstanding judge of exemplary courage who stood firmly for the truth like the Rock of Gibraltar, always ready to dispense justice no matter whose ox is gored.”
He said that he was a shining light in the Judiciary whose judgments at the Court of Appeal “clearly demonstrated that Justice Nsofor was not afraid to voice out his conviction based on point of law hence his consistency as a judge for 28 years endeared him to many Nigerians and the world in general.”
To the family, the governor urged them to take solace in the sustainable legacies their patriarch achieved while on earth and what he stood for which will always help to mitigate the loss of such a great father.
In his sermon at the funeral mass held at Sacred Heart Parish Oguta, the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Michael Chinagorom, who drew his references from the book of Eccl. Chapter 3 verse 1-8,11 enjoined the living to “see the life on earth as transient and that the best of life is to use it to help the less privilege, make those in difficulty feel relieved, put smiles on the faces of those groaning and endeavour to make heaven at last.”
“These, ” according to him, “are what the late Justice epitomized while alive.”
In their funeral oration, the son of late Justice Nsofor, Mr. Cross Nsofor, said that their father prepared their mind before his death not to “expect so that they will not be disappointed or ask so that they will not be denied”.
He said that the late Jurist was self-contented with what he has, was never moved by worldly things nor primitive acquisition of wealth and properties, hence as a Judge spoke and defended the truth.
All that spoke at the valedictory court session described the late Justice Nsofor as an incorruptible Judge who left legacies of emulation in the sands of time for both present and in-coming Judges in Nigeria.