ERUDITE and foremost constitutional lawyer, Professor Ben Nwabueze has died at the age of 92.
The legal luminary reportedly died on Sunday in his home Atani, in Ogbaru local government area of Anambra State.
In a statement, a former president of the Igbo group, Aka Ikenga and president Credibility Group, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, described the reports of the passage of Nwabueze as sad.
He stated that, “Prof Ben Nwabueze SAN was a great man by all ramifications! He was called the Oracle of Law by the great Rotimi Williams SAN of immortal memory.
“Nwabueze was a consummate law, a professor of law who insisted on doing a written examination for his LL.D, (Doctor of Laws), a mentor of many, the first academic to be conferred with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, a Secretary General of Ohanaeze, a Minister (Secretary) of Education, a professor of law in a good number of countries.”
Born in 1932, in Atani, Anambra State, Nwabueze, Nigeria’s first academic Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was accomplished in many things at different times. He was a teacher, administrator, technocrat, and former Minister of Education and Youth Development.
He studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
From 1962 – 1965, he lectured at Holborn College of Law, London, and the University of Nigeria Nsukka(1967 – 1970). In 1971, he was Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Zambia and Director, Law Practice Institute, Zambia (1973 – 1975).
A first class intellectual, Nwabueze earned his LL.D at the University of London in 1978, based on his three outstanding books – Constitutionalism, Presidentialism, and Judicialism, in the example of Dr. T.O. Elias, who was the first Nigerian and African holder of a higher doctorate degree in Law by published works.
He earned his stripes as SAN in 1978 also on the basis of his books and numerous articles.
In his sojourn as an academic between 1971 and 1979, he traversed the top echelon of several universities, including the University of Lagos, University of Dar-es-salaam, Nairobi, University of Haile Selassie in Ethiopia. Others are the universities of Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland, Ghana, Jos, Obafemi Awolowo University.
A tireless author, Nwabueze has over 30 books on the practice of law and constitutionalism and over 300 articles in academic journals and conferences.
Some of his books are ‘The Machinery of Justice in Nigeria; Constitutional Law of the Nigerian Republic; The Presidential Constitution of Nigeria; and the multi volumed Nigeria’s Second Experiment in Constitutional Democracy in Africa.
Igbo politics
An advocate of a strong Igbo nation and the political and social cultural interests of the Igbo, Nwabueze in 1976, was on the list of founders of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo. In his time (1978 to 2004) as the Secretary – General, the Igbo apex socio cultural and political organization became a viable non-partisan pressure group.
