Justice Tobi’s Death, Nigeria Has Lost The Conscience Of Her Judiciary, Says Semenitari

By TheNeighbourhood, Nigeria

Ag. Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, has described the late Supreme Court Justice Niki Tobi, CON, as the conscience of Nigeria’s judiciary whose contributions to Nigeria's jurisprudence is authoritative. Semenitari has therefore said that his demise is a national loss and a tragic story for Niger Delta region.

Semenitari, who reacted to the death of Justice Tobi on Monday, said that as a member of the Bench, the late Justice Tobi remained incorruptible, a no-nonsense interpreter of the Law and exemplary. “As a member of the Bench, Justice Tobi delivered quality rulings that tallied with justice and could not be faulted.

He was one of the finest breeds the Nigerian Bench produced in recent times, capping his glorious years with well-researched judgments which classified him as the conscience of the Golden Era of Nigeria’s judiciary.

His pronouncements on legal matters brought before him stand out and occupy copious space in Nigeria's Law Books legal system. Legal luminaries and senior Nigerian lawyers find Tobi’s judgments as authoritative as the nation's basic laws. Truly, the Nigerian judiciary has lost a rare breed-jurist whose impeccable records stand as a referral to others in the Temple of Justice".

Semenitari expressed sadness that Tobi’s death came on the heels of the recent double tragedy that befell the Niger Delta region in the loss of two former Super Eagles Coaches, Stephen Keshi and Amodu Shuaibu, lamenting that the latest incident has added to the blanket of grief in the region. However, she prayed God to stem the tide.

“The Niger Delta region has been in back-to-back mourning. While the region mourned in the last three weeks and prayed never-again, little did we know that death would come for one of our best this time in the judicial sphere. This season of harvest of death in the region has depleted our First Eleven, Justice Tobi being a prominent player.”

Semenitari condoled with the Tobi family, members of the Nigerian Bench, the people and Government of Delta State. She noted that though Justice Tobi would be missed, his good memory and his works in expanding judicial scholarship and the legal literature in Nigeria would remain evergreen.

Bekee Anyalewechi
SA (Media) to the Ag. MD/CEO
Monday, June 20, 2016