A 5 man Courtroom Mail panel has announced Chidi Odinkalu as the 2025 Courtroom Mail person of the year.
The panel usually constituted anonymously debated in the last stage between Chidi Odinkalu and John Aikpokpo Martins. Four members nominated Chidi Odinkalu while one nominated John Aikpokpo- Martins who has been in the forefront of public interest issues in the country.
According to the founder of Courtroom Mail, Anthony Atata, “the choice of Odinkalu will not come as a surprise to any honest lawyer in Nigeria. While I have had my reasons to disagree with him on some issues years back, which I still disagree with, one cannot wish away the extraordinary work Odinkalu is doing calling for accountability from those who run the Justice system in Nigeria.”
Mr Atata in announcing the 2025 Courtroom Mail person of the year said “Chidi Odinkalu has perfected the act of saying uncomfortable truths. Odinkalu appears not to be in pursuit of any favour, rank , title or position within the profession which puts him in a rare class of liberated lawyers who are vocal about the ills that have besieged the legal profession and the Justice System.
Unfortunately, lawyers who belong to this class are very much in short supply.
In a profession where “dobaleism” and “boiboism” have been institutionalised, eroding, hijacking and extending the true definition of respect and loyalty , many lawyers seeking to become one thing or the other are required to become timid and synthetically blind to the evils that continue to soak the fabric of the Justice System and our society even when those factors gravely affect them. Ofcourse , this is strategic.
In Nigeria, everyone understands table manners. You don’t talk while eating. In the legal profession, lawyers understand that the phrase is extended. You don’t even talk while preparing to eat. If you are pursuing the award of SAN, to become a Judge, occupy a top position in the NBA or any juicy statutory committee where lawyers are appointed, if you are into brief racketeering with government offices and company secretaries, the golden rule remains that you should keep your mouth shut if you want to succeed or to avoid the wrath of people who may determine your fate when the time comes.
It will only take a man who expects nothing from the system to show such courage in calling out a Justice system that seems to be under severe assault that has led to the elevation of VDM and Berekete TV as an alternative last hope of the common man.
In 2023, Chidi Odinkalu was a co-Courtroom Mail person of the year with Bayo Akinlade.
In 2024 Adesina Ogunlana was posthumously awarded the courtroom Mail person of the year.
Tunji Gomez was the first person to be awarded Courtroom Mail person of the year in 2009 for his SAN abolition movement which disruptively caused the total review of the criteria for SAN at the time.
Austin Alegeh was awarded for his remarkable courage in 2016 for abolishing delegate system of election in the NBA and replacing it with a universal suffrage for lawyers.
