By M. O. Idam, Esq.
Before I became a lawyer, I had never had any meaningful interaction with a lawyer. I had never been inside a law office except during my chamber attachment, nor did I truly understand what the legal profession was all about until I enrolled to study law.
What drew me to Law as a profession, was a deep hatred for injustice. I wanted a platform from which I could lawfully resist oppression and defend those who could not defend themselves.
No means of meeting my economic need in mind.
But, in the midst of those dreams, I heard something that almost changed the course of my life.
One of my uncles, whom I regarded as a mentor, told me that lawyers are buried face down when they die. His words carried a deal of influence in my life. To me, his opinions were almost unquestionable.
My heart sank. I went home depressed, unable to eat properly for days, constantly thinking about what I had heard.
Eventually, I summoned the courage to revisit the conversation with him.
This time, he suggested that I study Town Planning instead. According to him, town planners were in high demand and the profession was more lucrative than law.
I politely asked whether the real reason I should not study law was because of its poor financial prospects.
He replied that it was one of several reasons, if not a major reason that should concern me.
I shrugged in disapproval at this moment.
At that moment, I realized he had a personal bias against the legal profession. But little did he know that financial prospect was never my contemplation. My greatest fear was the frightening claim that lawyers were buried face down after death.
So I asked him another question:
“If a lawyer is buried face down, would that prevent God from taking that person to heaven if he had lived a righteous life?”
There was a long silence.
Then, almost immediately, he became visibly agitated. He asked me to leave, saying I was already developing “stupid logic” sense even before writing JAMB.
He never answered my question.
I left that day with my mind made up. Whatever the truth was, I would pursue my dream of becoming a lawyer.
Today, I officially regret ever giving that story any credibility. It was not worth my panic. It was at best, a barefaced lies.
I now realize that is baseless, unfounded, false, imaginary, and entirely fictional.
In all my years in the legal profession, I have never witnessed or found any truth to that claim.
Lawyers are buried with the same dignity and according to the same religious, cultural, or family traditions as everyone else.
It is time to give this myth a final burial.
It is simply not true.
—M.O. Idam
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