Atiku, Chime mourn Aniagolu, ex-Supreme Court justice

Posted by admin Headlines, Judiciary Friday, July 1st, 2011

A former vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has described the death of retired Supreme Court Justice, Anthony Aniagolu, as another major defoliation of Nigeria’s judicial tree.

In a statement issued by his media office in Abuja, the former vice-president said with Aniagolu’s death at 89 years, a brilliant star had set in the nation’s judicial galaxy.

According to Atiku, the late Aniagolu’s contributions to the nation’s judiciary and the country’s political development were immeasurable.

He recalled that as chairman of the 1989 Constituent Assembly, the late Aniagolu had contributed tremendously to Nigeria’s democratic and political evolution.

“It is on record that the document produced by the Aniagolu-led Assembly represented the best effort so far at forging an enduring national consensus and for which reason the 1989 Constitution continues to be a reference point in the constitutional development of Nigeria,” he said.

Atiku prayed God to grant the deceased eternal peace and the family, the fortitude to bear the loss.

In a related development, the Enugu State governor, Mr Sullivan Chime, has described the death of Justice Aniagolu as a big blow to the nation.

He said with the death, the country had, again, lost one of its finest legal brains and highly patriotic public servants.

The governor, in a condolence statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Chukwudi Achife, said the late Justice Aniagolu had maintained a glittering and highly successful career as a barrister, followed by an illustrious and trail-blazing record on the bench, first as a High Court judge, then chief judge of the old Anambra State and finally as a justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Chime said the late jurist had, while serving on the bench, delivered many landmark judgments and enunciated powerful legal opinions that would continue to impact positively and progressively on important legal issues in the country, long after his death.

“Nigeria has long indeed lost one of its more illustrious sons in the death of Justice Anthony Aniagolu. He was a colossus in all that he endeavoured to do and he served this nation with exemplary dedication.

“We in Enugu State are particularly sad because he was one of our very eminent sons, who served as beacons of progress and development for the entire state and the eastern region in general,” he said.

While consoling the family, friends and colleagues of the late jurist, Governor Chime urged the leaders of the country to strive to ensure that the legacies of its illustrious citizens were passed on to the younger generation.

-Tribunewp_posts