26 Mar 2006 |
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Abbot C J, in the celebrated case of Montriou V Jefferies, stated and I quote: “God forbid it should be imagined that a Counsel or an Attorney knows all the laws”. I share the view of his Lordship, but in the context of a Counsel having an in-depth and impeccable knowledge especially within the precinct of Law, Professor Fidelis Oditah is an exception to that view. In the Chambers Guide to the legal profession 2002 - 2003 Professor Oditah is described as having a huge brain, the guide further stated that what the Professor doesn’t know is not worth knowing.
Born on the 27th of March 1964, Professor Fidelis Oditah had a disciplined and academic oriented beginning. His Father was a head teacher who had a mastery of early colonial academic discipline. The Professor’s academic excellence started in his early days at the Federal Government College Warri, where he devoted much of his time to the struggle for the social welfare of his fellow students and as well graduated with a distinction. Professor Oditah was a role model within his contemporaries at the University of Lagos. To those who witnessed the 1984 graduation of the institution, and those that heard about it, Professor Oditah shook the Unilag hall of fame with a first class. Even as a student with such sound academic disposition, the soft spoken and unassuming encyclopedia of law jokingly referred to as fidelism was in charge if his scholarly disposition and maintained a great sense of humour. History was repeated in 1984 when he came out with another first class at the Nigerian Law School!
Having distinguished himself among his peers, the Professor proceeded to the famous Oxford University for a Masters programme on Commonwealth scholarship. The legal world stood still to the amazement of his admirers when the legal icon stamped his footprint in the sand of times at Oxford University with an unrivalled post graduate capping in 1986 at Magdalene college, and proceeded for a Doctorate in same institution. Professor Oditah was admitted to the famous Lincoln Inn in 1992. The University Don blazed the trail with the strides of a Gulliver where he lectured as a tutor and fellow of Merton College between 1989 and 1997.
Having set the pace for academic excellence at Oxford University, Professor Oditah laid to rest if any, the question of academic competence of Africans in the United Kingdom with his status as primus inta peras. On account of his dazzling academic profile in the area of Commercial Law and Arbitration, he was awarded a QC, Queen’s Counsel by the English Bar in 2003, and subsequently became a SAN, Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2004.
As an outstanding legal authority, the QC accounts for many scripts, journals and texts including Legal Aspects of Receivable Financing, published by Sweet and Maxwell London, Insolvency Banks FT Law and Tax 1996. For many, the Senior Advocate is a beacon of hope especially within Nigerians in Diaspora and the intellectual and political class because personalities with such outstanding professional competence are what today’s Nigeria needs. Professor Oditah has contributed immensely to the world of legal literature and this accounts for his many academic careers which includes Visiting Professor Oxford University, Visiting Professor University of Virginia Law School in 1992, member Chancery and Commercial Bar Association and founding Editor Company and Insolvency Law Review 1997 to 2001 and a Consultant to the United Nation Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
Professor Oditah is a man of many attributes, his contribution toward academic empowerment per excellence accounts for Oditah Foundation at Oxford University. Quite recently the authorities of University of Lagos awarded him the best achieving student based on his outstanding professional achievements and the precision with which he went about it. Presently, a member of Chambers of Michael Chrystal, the Professor is happily married with three children. As he marks his 42nd birthday, we his ardent admirers are proud of his achievements and leadership qualities. History has shown that such caliber of persons with untainted personality have a lot to give back to the Nigerian society. Nigerians are hoping that someday the learned QC will transforms his potentials into viable leadership machinery for a better Nigeria by answering the clarion call when the trumpet of leadership sounds. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
EUGENE UZUM ESQ, Nigerian Reformers Academy, Leeds.
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