It was in one of the tributes to Professor
Wole Soyinka that someone was once reported to have eulogized the Nobel
laureate as a tree that makes a forest. This is contrary to the Yoruba proverb
that goes 'Igi kan o le da Igbo se’. It
is, of course, an indisputable fact that a tree does not make a forest.
However, what we imagine informed the reinvention of that age long proverb, a
la, inversion, is not unlikely as a result of Kongi's indomitable energy at
fighting injustice.
There are not many people in our clime with
this kind of selflessness: late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN; the legal luminary
is another name that readily comes to our mind. The one-quality that runs
through the minds of people with this selfless zeal is for them not to believe
in a course. They dispense as much energy and time to their conviction as they
can deny same of anything that does not catch their fancy. When they are at
work, they get intoxicated in their belief, such that their own spirit cannot
even stop them. A critical look at their zeal shows that they are controlled by
a higher force; a force that starts and ends in illumination. It is for this
reason that they cannot stand injustice and anything that has to do with
darkness.
Just as in the larger society, there are
not many of them in our own NOUNAA as well. This is while people like Mr. Carl
Umegboro should always be celebrated; for choosing not to follow the way of
criminal-minded in our midst, instead choosing to fight the cause of our Alma Mata
when many are too afraid to identity with the institution. Sometimes, we wonder
if you do other things but think and live NOUN. From The Guardian newspapers to
The PUNCH; Vanguard; Daily SUN; Nigerian Tribune; Daily Trust; The Nation; Telegraph
and other various media you have carried your advocacy of the school; every
week, no end. What an unparalleled PR you have been doing for the school. The
kind one is not afraid to say that the school is incapable of doing herself.
You have chosen to put NOUN matter on the front burner, feeding the conscience
of Nigeria with our plights.
We have no doubt that you have raised an
army of sympathizers and disciples for the NOUN cause in and around the world through
a plethora of your write-ups. It is as much about your write-ups as much as the
depth of your legal logics that we are here celebrating. For I am sure that
while someone somewhere is reading one of those numerous articles of yours,
that someone somewhere is asking himself and herself, somewhere some days that,
but if NOUN is able to produce the likes of this writer, why won't naysayers
allow NOUN graduates in Law School?
While others, selfish, self-centred and
myopic are busy scheming on how to pocket NOUNAA, you are busy planning on how
to make NOUNAA an all-time legacy. For a viable NOUN is a viable NOUNAA. What
an uncommon hero of our time. The great job you are doing for NOUN, we know
that even NOUN management will never do it. Since, they will rather look away,
play games with those that are the obstacles, in order to keep their own jobs.
This is why we believe that when the time comes for recognitions and
appreciation of worthy members of our enclave, your place will surely be on the
first role- certainty and surely, premium inter partes. We have no doubt in our
mind that when that time comes, there will surely be nothing to count on the
side of those self-anointed ambassadors and senior advocates of NOUNAA other
than debts from their abuse of privileges against our alumni and inactive
service. Thank you, our illustrious and
fearless one-man battalion. This is only a token of our appreciation.
Ari-Ajia Olanrewaju
+234 816 111 7747
(12th
December, 2017)
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