PROFILE OF (ELDER) HONOURABLE JUSTICE EMMANUEL TAKON NDOMA-EGBA, OFFICER OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC, JUSTICE OF THE COURT OF APPEAL (Retired)

 

(Elder) Honourable Justice Emmanuel Takon Ndoma-Egba OFR, JCA (rtd) was born on the 28th of August, 1928 in Akparabong, Ikom Local Government Area of Cross River State to Chief Ndoma Egba a prominent and successful farmer and entrepreneur of the Egba Etta family, and Madam Ekori Obasse, the first of several illustrious children.

He started his educational career at the Church of Scotland Mission, Ikom from 1933 to 1941.  On passing his Standard Six in 1941 (as amended in 1939 to 1941), he was immediately employed as a Pupil Young Teacher (PYT) by the Church of Scotland Mission in 1942 and taught for three years earning the appellation ‘Teacher Takon’ which he took to his grave.

In 1945 he proceeded to New Bethel College, Onitsha for his commercial and secondary school education which he completed in 1949.  This period consolidated his friendship with the Ibo Nation and it is fitting coincidence that his son, Victor, was to marry Amaka from Onitsha.

After his commercial and secondary education, he was employed as a typist, and later Correspondence Clerk in the Ikom Native Authority where he soon rose to the position of Assistant Secretary of the Authority.  He returned to his first love ‘teaching’ and taught up to 1954 when he was seconded to the Board of Internal Revenue, Ikom as its first staff. He served as a selected Special Constable at the reception for the Queen of England in Enugu in 1956. He resigned in September 1956 to seek the proverbial ‘golden fleece’ in England on the active encouragement of Mr. St. Ledger, the Colonial District Officer.

He registered at the Regent Street Polytechnic(now City of London University from 1956 to 1959 and obtained the B.Sc in Economics.  He then proceeded to the Holborn College of Law where he obtained the LL.B and was called to the Bar at the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple in November, 1961 and promptly returned to Nigeria to enrol as a Barrister-At-Law and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on 21st December, 1961.

He set up his Law practice which immediately got busy in Enugu, the capital of the then Eastern Nigeria under the name and style of ‘Ogoja-Ejagham Chambers’, a practice that saw him traverse the Eastern and parts of the Northern Regions of Nigeria and the Cameroons, establishing himself as a Courtroom titan. He was nicknamed ‘the cock’ of the Bar.

At the end of the Nigerian Civil War he relocated briefly to Ogoja before moving to Ikom which had emerged as a commercial hub and a fast growing metropolis, from where he continued championing the cause of the poor, the downtrodden, and his Ogoja-Ejagham people, urging his people to exert themselves to the limits of their endowments and inspiring a whole new generation.

He was the Leader of the Bar in the Northern Divisions of the then South Eastern State, Member of the National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association(1971-1974), a member of the Nigerian Bar Council, Member of the Disciplinary Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, Vice Chairman of the Legal Aid Council, member High Court Rules Committee under the Chairmanship of Sir Darnley Alexander, then Chief justice of South Eastern State (as they were then known) who was soon to become Chief Justice of Nigeria, and Member of the Interim Judicial commission of the then South Eastern State.  During the Nigerian Civil War he was a Member of the Nigeria-Biafra Peace Committee to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the Biafran side.

He was a Member of the Investigative Committee into the affairs of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital under the Chairmanship of Sir Alvan Ikoku, Member of the Ogoja Provincial Government under then Eastern Region, Member, Students Advisory Committee, Ministry of Education, Eastern Region, Member, Consultative Assembly, Eastern Region (leading the Ogoja delegation), Member, Ikom Town Planning Authority (Eastern Nigeria), Member, Constitution Review Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. Nabo Graham Douglas S.A.N, Hall Master, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Member South Eastern State Economic Advisory Committee, Chairman, Manilla  Insurance Company Ltd, Chairman,Sestrade Ltd, Member Investment Trust Company Ltd, President, Boys Brigade of Nigeria, Cross River State Command.

He was appointed Judge of the High Court of old Cross River State (Now Cross River and Akwa Ibom States) and was sworn in on the Ist of May, 1975 along with Justices M.U. Usoro and Peter Umoh by Sir Darnley Alexandar. He established the Eket and Oron Judicial Divisions and served in Calabar, Etinan & Obubra Judicial Divisions from where he was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 1987 where he served in the Jos, Benin and Port Harcourt Divisions.  He retired from the Port Harcourt Division in 1993 into a quiet life in Ikom devoting himself to the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria as Elder, Trustee and Patron of the Boys Brigade, his community and humanity.

Justice Ndoma-Egba was an all round pioneer as Teacher, Civil Servant, Lawyer and Judge of both the High Court and Court of Appeal in his part of the world,(the old Ikom and Ogoja Divisions now eight Local Government  Areas of Cross River State).  He was their first Lawyer & Judge.  The next Lawyer came ten full years after him.  He was proud of his Ejagham heritage and was a polyglot.  Languages came to him naturally, and he spoke many.  He was a consummate hunter and marksman who proudly displayed his game at his dining table which was the meeting point for many.  Every meal was an opportunity for him to share and to display his culinary skills so he hardly ate alone.  He relished the company of people, high and low.  He took part in hunting expeditions up to the Scandinavias. He was dexterous with firearms.

He was a legend beyond his times, true to his friends, available to his community, indifferent to material wealth, honest in his dealings with fellow humans, an exemplar and believer in humanity and the endless possibilities of the human spirit.  His was a life of love, he was patient, kind, never boastful or conceited, never rude or selfish, hardly took offence, never resentful or jealous, trusting, hopeful and delighted in truth.  His friendships knew neither bounds of age, tribe or religion and he remained simply E.T to the world. He was simple yet dignified and to him integrity was all that mattered.  He was a Member of the Rotary International.  As a Judge, he was firm, just and, incorruptible and prodigious.  He had a great sense of humour and loved stories.

He lived life on his terms, worked hard and lived well, and died to claim the eternal rest in the bosom of his Maker whom he faithfully served in thought, words and deed while on this mortal plane.  The quintessential gentleman, he was exact in manners and sartorial in style. Though dead in flesh, he lives in the hearts of people.

He is survived by Adeline, his wife and consort of several decades, Rowland, Professor of Surgery, Pro Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the Obafemi Awolowo University, IIe-Ife, Ransome, a Community Leader, Victoria, a School Principal, Glory, a Court Registrar, Victor, Leader of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Knut and Eta, businessmen,Mbong Akinyemi, a Canada based Lawyer, Roy, Special Adviser to the Governor of Cross River State, Mbong Sheridan, a housewife and businesswoman, Oti a Student, grandchildren and great grandchildren, Ofu, brother, Rebecca, Nkongha, Okpem and Etek, sisters and many other relations.

He was the recipient of many honours, titles and awards including the Millennium Gold Medal by the Government of the Cross River State and Officer of the Federal Republic(OFR) by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.