I first met Mr Olumuyiwa Olowokure when he ran for General Secretary of the NBA some years back. He was unsuccessful in that campaign. Then we met again and worked together in Mrs Funke Adekoya SAN’s campaign for presidency of the NBA. We lost that campaign gallantly.
It was in the course of working together in the campaign that saw Mr A B Mahmoud SAN win the NBA presidency that OO and I became really close. He was an older brother on the campaign trail and we worked hard and campaigned harder. We also took time off to relax together as often as we met.
Two years later, we came together again to campaign for Mr Arthur Obi-Okafor SAN’s NBA presidency. It was great working with him again even though we lost. He was away at some point during the campaign on health grounds…but he returned assuring that all was well.
OO loved the bar. He had been Chairman in his adopted home state of Kaduna and was a respected and much admired bar elder there. He aspired to National office and was vocal at NBA NEC and on several National committees. He served the bar selflessly and never sought reward or accolade. He ran a thriving practice and didnt live off the bar.
OO loved work…and he loved to let his hair down. He was cultured and cosmopolitan, and yet very down to earth and practical. He was accommodating of criticism and other views and would yield to superior argument. He was friendly with everyone – pal, foe, senior, junior alike, and treated everyone with courtesy.
He was so full of life and his slender frame belied a boundless energy and appetite for work and fun. He looked good in suits, resplendent in native attire and great in casual clothes. I always looked forward to seeing him turn out in the evening after a hard day of travel and campaign dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt looking very trim and young – ready to hit the town with me in tow.
We had some great times together…and I will forever cherish his memory as a consummate bar man, diligent lawyer, great companion and friend, loyal campaigner, life of a party, family man – son, husband and father.
His wife and family will miss him, his clients will miss him, the entire bar will miss him. I will miss him. His jokes…his advise…his keen sense of fairness. His well thought out strategies. I was looking forward to working closely with him in at least one more NBA National campaign…but alas that is not to be.
Sleep well…my Egbon and friend OO. You were a good man.
Alex Muoka
Former Chairman
NBA Lagos Branch
