AND THE LAWYER DIED

The fear of death should not be the reason why one should not be committed to his calling either as a lawyer or layman. Thus I remember a man I admire so much, Franz Fanon. He was so committed to his calling so much that even when he was diagnosed with leukaemia (cancer of the blood), he did not find ample time for treatment. At the time he was ready to take a break from his vocation, it was too lake, his life was swallowed by the cancer that resided in his blood before it could be shown the way out. He was only 36.

Now, my grouse is not with death, because it is an inevitable end of every man here on earth. My headache is not also with a for-better-for-worse or till-death-do-us-apart marriage to one’s calling or vocation. My qualms today are against death in unexpected places. I mean meeting death in your own safe area. it is purely a case of ‘a wise man, who dies at the backyard of a foolish man, e get as e be,’ the copyright of Dr. Orlando Owoh, the Kenerry King, acknowledged.

This was at a High Court in our land. This counsel had prepared himself both physically and mentally. At least this much his glowing robe and loads of books and files he stormed the court with that fateful day suggested. His clients, who had hopped from one lawyer to another before they were introduced to this legal messiah, were also in court for their matter, which was finally slated for hearing after legion of adjournments. Silence permeated the entire courtroom as cases were called. It finally came to the turn of this lawyer. As he stood up to announce his appearance, he received what was to become a permanent sentence not only out of the noble profession but also out of life. The axe fell, sorry, the rickety and dirty (crawling) ceiling fan under which he sat fell right on his head. Before, he could say ‘my lord,’ he was received by the angels, who had to prepare an emergency accommodation for him in the great beyond.

The entire court scattered. Men and women ran for cover. The rumour mill attributed the unexpected and bizarre departure of the lawyer to the spiritual wickedness in high places, facilitated by the people on the other side in the land matter he was in court to handle.

In the midst of all pandemonium, I stepped aside to update my diary lest I forget the details of the gory incident. And as I did that I asked myself a question: when last was the fan, like every other thing in our courts serviced before it finally fell? If the incident could be attributed to spiritual wickedness, the wickedness began when those who were believed to have facilitated the death won the cooperation of the administrators of our courts to abandon requisite and regular maintenance.

Bye friends, God’s willing, together we shall open another interesting page of this diary next week. Shalom!

I remain your Dearly Beloved Roving Public Interest Lawyer, Taiwo AKINLAMI

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