ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION, MR YAKUBU CHONOKO MAIKYAU, SAN, AT THE VALEDICTORY COURT SESSION HELD ON 15TH SEPTEMBER 2022 AT THE SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA IN HONOUR OF HONOURABLE JUSTICE ABDU ABOKI, JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT (RETIRED)

PROTOCOL

I thank my Lord, the Honourable, the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Honourable Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, JSC, for the opportunity to address this hallowed gathering, being held in honour of the quintessential jurist, the Honourable Justice Abdu Aboki, JSC. This
valedictory session is one that I would not have missed as counsel, given my personal admiration for his Lordship.

Few days after my inauguration as the 31st President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), I had the unpleasant task of issuing a tribute to a colleague who had served as secretary when I was Chairman of the NBA Welfare Committee. That became the first official communication I had to issue as President of the Bar. I also attended a Valedictory Court Session held in his honour at the High Court of Edo State, Benin-city, on the 2nd of September 2022. This Valedictory Court Session in honour of My Lord, Honourable Justice Abdu Aboki, JSC, will go on record as my first assignment before this Honourable Court, as President of the NBA.

Valedictory Court sessions, irrespective of the circumstance, are sober and solemn moments; they both speak to the transient nature of the positions we are privileged to hold in life and the fleeting nature of life itself. We are all encouraged by scripture to thank God Almighty, whether the circumstance is with regard to the transience of the work we do, or the life we live. Not many are privileged to witness or enjoy this sequence. It is therefore in appreciation of the grace of God upon the life of My Lord, Honourable Justice Abdu Aboki, JSC, Who saw His Lordship through an illustrious career on the Bench that we as members of the Bar join in celebrating His Lordship’s life of sacrifice to this nation.