TRIBUTE TO CHIEF FRANCIS CHIKE OFODILE, SAN

ONOWU IYASELE OF ONITSHA

By Eugene Agbimson

President - CKC Old Boys New York Chapter

The news of the passing of Chief Francis Chike Ofodile SAN, Onowu Iyasele of the Kingdom of Onitsha

and former Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, on Sunday

August 3, 2014, came not merely as a profound shock but as a crude reminder of the inevitable end of

everyone’s life journey. Chief Ofodile was not just a highly ranked legal luminary and a revered

traditional chief, but one of those rare sagacious personalities with disarming simplicity and sharp

sensibility. He was humble and self effacing and appeared to have been thrust into the limelight that he

never sought. He was very humorous and always genuinely at ease with everyone he dealt with from poor

tidewaiters to titled noblemen. His good natured approach to life and knack for humor in story telling that

enlivens discussions with friends and all around him, have endeared him to so many.

Our friendship started many years ago, and when last I spoke to him about two months ago while he was

in the United Kingdom receiving treatment, as his health condition was becoming less stable, he was very

much his usual self. Normally, we would talk about our personal families, mutual friends, current events

and the CKC family, but this time our discussion was brief but not ominous. Over the years, he has

become part of the CKC Old Boys New York Chapter, attending all of our events whenever he was in the

United States. We will particularly surely miss the aura of his presence and his awesome counsel. Indeed,

the Nigerian nation, Onitsha Kingdom, Anambra State, the Nigerian legal profession, his alma mater

CKC and above all, his family, have suffered a devastating and extra ordinary loss.

He now joins the long list of departed iconic personalities of his great alma mater Christ the King

College, Onitsha, like Emeritus Supreme Court Justice Sylvester Chukwudifu Oputa, Chief Justice Sir

Louis Mbanefo, Hon. Gabriel C. Onyiuke, SAN, Hon. Justice Chike Idigbe, JSC, Emeritus Professor of

Mathematics Dr. Chike Obi, Dr. James Henshaw, renowned economist Dr. P.N.C Okigbo, Chief Prof

Anthony I. Modebe former Ogene Onira of Onitsha, Victor Allagoa, and so on and so forth.

My task here is not to delve into his professional and other accomplishments, as there are already

countless experts and commentators with comments and commentaries that Chief Ofodile’s great life and

works have elicited. My task is to shed some light on some of his beliefs and ideas through the prism of

his non legal works and the influence that his early education at Christ the King College Onitsha had on

his life.

Excerpts from a key note address and paper presented by Chief Chike Ofodile, SAN, Onowu Iyasele of

Onitsha, at the 2005 Annual Convention of Christ the King College Onitsha Alumni Association in

America held at the Hilton Hotel, Woodridge, New Jersey on July 16, 2005, give us some insight on some

of the things that made this man tick.

The topic of his presentation was “Ruminations on Discipline” (Rumination meaning reflections,

meditations).

“’Discipline’ is hardly susceptible of neat definition. It denotes certain attributes. Discipline is the

eschewing of intemperance and irresponsibility and unaccountability. It embraces decency and honest. It

connotes a law-abiding disposition.

I ponder the acquisition of discipline in early life. Each of us began life as a baby. Some were raised in

families where they were instructed, corrected and sometimes complimented. It is of course desirable for

a child to be reared in a disciplined home. Early inculcation of discipline usually has a benign effect. A

child so conditioned would be decent and focused at school and in society.

It is the hallowed duty of parents, mentors and instructors to provide guidelines for children, emphasizing

that certain deplorable acts would earn punishment. Punishment, like all human devices, is susceptible to

misuse and abuse. However, its total abolition for misdeed would create grave problems of misbehavior

and criminality.

It is unsurprising that the founders of Christ the King College (CKC) Onitsha, desirous of achieving

wholesome development of the student, based their endeavor on the principle projected and defined in the

college motto as “Bonitas Disciplina Scientia” (Goodness, Discipline, and Knowledge). This has also

been aptly described as “the CKC essence.”

….. There exists a tendency to promote the ego, to exult selfishness, mindless individuality and

bumptiousness.

Indeed liberty – and libertinism – is supplanting obedience. Civilization itself is endangered when

unchecked liberty prevails over conscientiousness and restraint. This apparent conflict need not be

countenanced, for proper freedom is strengthened by obedience.

When religion was deemed relevant and significant, when His Divinity had not yet been denied, when

God had not been pushed from the centre of human consciousness to its periphery, sustained efforts were

made to related to Him, to obey and please Him. Whatever roused his displeasure was considered sinful.

The earth was deemed the domain of probation, heaven the realm of reward, and hell the sphere of

punishment. Heaven had not been denied. Hell had not yet been argued out of existence. Then many knew

they could not act as they pleased. Then again the ascetic principles of Christianity directed the lives of

some. Those attributes were discipline, the practice of moral virtues, order, law, commitment to worthy

causes.

A certain phenomenon occurred in modern times. People became mesmerized by the ‘miracles’ and

achievements of science, dazzled by the gadgets of modern technology, unsettled by intellectual conceit.

Our society has been on trial at the bar of discipline and the general verdict has been ‘guilty as charged.’

Indiscipline pervades and perverts every aspect of our national life.

Decency and dutifulness decree that defeat is accepted with good grace. Discipline also prescribes that

success is received with calm, without arrogance or ostentation.

We require a new orientation, indeed a re-orientation, and a trans-valuation of values to restore discipline

and social equilibrium.

To recognize the dangers of greed, to realize that happiness and character are irreconcilable with

dishonesty, prompts development of wholesome principles. That stance would hopefully facilitate

abhorrence for indiscipline.

The virtues I have highlighted are extremely hard to practice. We are all flawed and fallible. All are

wrongdoers, perhaps none more so than I the speaker”.

These words are as relevant today as when they were first delivered. He tells us in so many ways and

words that discipline and fear of God matter and their erosion or lack thereof are at the root of most of our

national problems.

We can only wish he had stayed longer with us.

May his soul rest in peace.