By Okoi Obono-Obla
@Odo Oku
My learned friend,
Your illustrious father, the Honourable Justice Emmanuel Effanga Effiom Effanga, was a colossus both in stature and in law.
He was born on 10 April 1937 in Calabar. He attended Hope Waddell Training Institution from 1949 to 1955, and later studied at North Western Polytechnic from 1960 to 1961 and at the Inns of Court School of Law from 1961 to 1963, where he received the professional training that prepared him for a distinguished career in law and public service.
He began his career in 1956 as a Clerical Officer in the Eastern Nigeria Judiciary. Through dedication and steady professional advancement, he became State Counsel in the Ministry of Justice in 1965 and was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in 1975. In 1976, he was elevated to Judge of the High Court of Cross River State, serving at the High Court of Justice in Ogoja and Calabar, and becoming one of the most senior judicial officers in the state. His extensive experience also led to his involvement in commissions of inquiry and other public investigative assignments.
The pinnacle of his career came when he was appointed Chief Judge of Cross River State, a position he held from 1996 to 1998 as head of the State Judiciary. His career remains remarkable for its progression: from Clerical Officer to State Counsel, to DPP, to High Court Judge, and ultimately Chief Judge.
Beyond the Bench, he was revered in Calabar, holding the traditional titles of Adaha Ufok Etinyin Effanga Offiong and Ada Idaha Ke Eburutu, and serving as a Special Member of the Obong of Calabar’s Council.
I appeared before him several times as a young legal practitioner trying to cut my teeth in the profession. He was very strict and thorough, and he did not like legal practitioners who were poorly dressed, sloppy, and lacking in sartorial elegance and courtroom advocacy and mannerisms. He frowned at lawyers who addressed him while reading from scraps of paper or from law reports. He used to rebuke them severely and ferociously, and young lawyers, and even senior ones, used to dread appearing before him unprepared.
However, he liked me so much that he would openly shower praises on me in open court and urge both young and senior lawyers to learn from me. He said my advocacy was electrifying. It was not all roses, as I worked very hard to impress him. My first day in his court was dreadful, as he intentionally and deliberately pummeled me with questions to test my courage and to ascertain whether I knew my onions. I thought I had failed woefully, but surprisingly, he called my principal, Mr. Kanu Godwin Agabi, SAN, to heap praises on me. He also summoned me to his chambers and told me that Justice Effanga had commended me in a phone conversation with him.
Then, one day in June 1998, we heard he had answered the final call of his Creator. It was a very sad day for me, as I had come to hold him in my heart as an inspiration. I am glad I was one of his pallbearers.
May his soul continue to rest in peace.
