*How some lawyers demanded N600m fee each for my election case in 2015.
Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has lauded a legal luminary, Emmanuel C. Ukala, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as he clocks 65 years.
Wike pointed out the contributions of the SAN to the legal profession in the country at the 65th birthday celebration of Ukala in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
The governor, who was accompanied by his wife, Hon. Justice Eberechi Suzzette Wike, at the event, narrated that Ukala had been his family’s lawyer even before he proceeded to then Rivers State University of Science and Technology, now Rivers State University to study Law.
He recalled that while studying Law in the university, Ukala intervened in a chieftaincy dispute in his community, which cleared his family from alleged murder charge.
According to Wike, “There was a time that the entire family was charged for murder, every male in the family was taken away. We only had women left in the house with children between the ages of 1 and 5. As at that time, I was studying law at then Rivers State University of Science and Technology, now Rivers State University.”
The governor disclosed that the legal luminary in whose law firm he worked after leaving the Nigerian Law School, took his family’s ordeal very personal and gave his best to ensure that they got justice.
Speaking on his political history, the governor said when he declared his intention to contest for the office of the Chairman of Obio-Akpor Local Government Area in 1998, some politicians in his constituency allegedly ganged up and conspired with the police to frame him up for armed robbery.
He said Ukala did not only intervene and secure his release, but also defended him from the tribunal to the Supreme Court when some vested interest in the council desperately attempted to deprive him to be sworn into office as Obio-Akpor council chairman.
“Throughout my chairmanship matter in 1998 when we had election down to April 4, 2000, when the Supreme Court finally decided my matter, he (Ukala) never took a dime from me,” he stated.
Wike stated that when the Rivers State election petition tribunal annulled the 2015 governorship poll which he won convincingly; he contacted some lawyers to defend him in the matter and they demanded as much as N300 to N600 million as their legal fee. But when he approached Ukala, whom he described as his mentor, he was offered free legal service
He said: “In the governorship election, most people may not believe it, from the tribunal down to the Supreme Court, he never collected one dime from me.”
Wike, who described Ukala as refined and disciplined lawyer, applauded the legal icon for being a worthy mentor to him and his wife when they started their legal practice in Port Harcourt.
Governor showered encomium on the children of the celebrant for deciding to honour their parents, Emmanuel and Dr Kate Ukala, in appreciation of all the sacrifices they have made in ensuring they became responsible citizens.
Also, the Sokoto State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Suleiman Usman (SAN), said God has endowed Ukala with great learning and wisdom which he has in turn put to good use in the defence of the vulnerable in society.
“Having worked under your close supervision as a member of the Legal Practitioner Disciplinary Committee, I concur with all the encomiums that have been showered on you today that you are one-man institution,” he said.