At 70, Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, JSC Takes His Leave

At 70, Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, JSC Takes His Leave

The Nigerian Judiciary has had its fair share of astute and sagacious Jurists, one of them being Honourable Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour CFR who retired from the Supreme Court yesterday, March 22nd, 2021, having attained the mandatory retirement age of 70. Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, Chief Judge of Borno State, Hon. Justice Kashim Zannah, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN and Alex Muoka eulogise this quintessential judicial titan, as they take us through the highlights of his illustrious career, from his humble beginnings as a Pupil Counsel at the Lagos State Ministry of Justice in 1976, to his appointment as a High Court Judge in February 1994, his elevation to the Court of Appeal in April 2005, his secondment by the Federal Government of Nigeria while he was still a Justice of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone in 2008, culminating in him reaching the pinnacle of the career of a Nigerian Judge on his appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on September 16, 2010. Certainly, Rhodes-Vivour, JSC will go down in the history of Nigeria for his landmark judgement in Ukeje v Ukeje, in which his Lordship declared as being unconstitutional, the patently repugnant Igbo custom of disinheriting a woman. We congratulate his Lordship on the attainment of his Platinum Anniversary, thank him for his service to our dear country, and wish him the very best as he begins a new chapter in his life

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