Sir Chukwuma Ekomaru SAN
Chief Chukwuma Ekomaru SAN is a pathfinder. He is among the very few lawyers who are fortunate to be on the fast lane of life. The revered Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who would be rolling out the drums to celebrate his golden jubilee anniversary on earth in December this year has within the short time of his life accomplished a lot for himself and his chosen career. He holds the record for many firsts among his peers. His existence gives credence to the axiom that life is not all about how long but how impactful it has been.'I have always been a trail-blazer. I was the first young lawyer to drive a Mercedez Benz in our environment then. Even in marriage, I was among the first people to marry. I also got my first car, a Beetle Volkswagen six months after I started legal practice', he stated.Ekomaru through honesty, integrity, diligence and industry has made remarkable contributions to law practice in Nigeria especially in the area of advocacy, arbitration, publications, among others. He is the editor-in- chief, Imo Law publishers, Eastern Law Journal, Post Law Reports and Judicial Activism, essays in honour of Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi, former Chief Justice of Nigeria, as well as the most recent publication in honour of the retiring Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher titled: Tit-bits of Advocacy.Because of his professionalism and contributions to the development of law, he was conferred with the title of SAN in 2009 and a Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIA) a year later.He is also a member of various professional associations. He has been a member of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) since 1985, a notary public since 2002, member Commonwealth Lawyers' Association; member, International Bar Association; member Pan-African Lawyers' Union, as well as a member, West African Bar Association.Apart from law practice, Ekomaru has held other important positions. He was the company secretary, Owena Motels Limited, Akure, Ondo State in 1986; state legal adviser, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) between 2001 and 2003. He has also played active political roles. He was the deputy chairman of Mbaitolu Local Council from 1994 to 1995.In 1998, he was elected into the Federal House of Representatives on the platform of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) and later served as the honourable Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Imo State between 2003 and 2006 where like a chain in a sprocket, he acquitted himself very well in the office.A Knight of Saint Christopher of the Owerri Anglican Diocese, Ekomaru holds the Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Club of Nigeria, District 4910 and an award of excellence by Careglow Women International, among other numerous awards. He is also the registrar, Owerri Anglican Diocese since 2001 till date.He did not dabble into law by accident but was inspired to study the course at a very tender age. And since then, he has never looked back in his quest to realise his cherished dream. 'My exposure to the judiciary world in Government College Umuahia contributed to my interest to study law. I was particularly inspired by the activities of very distinguished lawyers such as Chief Rotimi Williams. I was surprised to note that he was referred to as Timi the Law, which means that he knows everything about law. Every newspaper that my father bought I went through it and I read a lot of about Chief Williams. In fact, the feelings I had, as a very little child was that he knows everything about law. But now, I realised that there were some cases that he lost. I wanted to be a lawyer from then on. God was with me and my dreams came through. There was no other thing that I desired in life except to practice law', he recalled.He described his early practice years as living in a legal mechanic because his principal introduced the act of writing out his presentations in a paper before saying them out as a way of avoiding blunder in the court. He said: 'Everything I wanted to say in court, including moving of motions, I wrote them down and continued that way until I gained composure. When I started to gain composure, I liberated myself from the circumstance of the victim of fixed ideas. Initially when I started, I was more or less like a legal mechanic. So, the first day I was in court, because I had that format, I didn't have a problem at all. I followed that guide.'Ekomaru was born in December 19, 1962, to the family of Chief and Lady Ephraim Ekomaru in Dublin, Ireland. His father was a renowned teacher while his mother retired as a secondary school principal. 'My father studied English/Literature in Trinity College. When he returned, he got a job in an oil company. He retained the job until the Civil War. Immediately after the Civil War, he lost his job and started teaching in Government College Umuahia. After teaching in Government College, he rose to the rank of vice principal. From there, he proceeded to so many secondary schools and finally retired as a special class principal', he disclosed.Ekomaru started his primary education at the Fisher Primary School, Umuahia, between 1969 and 1973. At the end of his primary education, he proceeded to the prestigious Government College, Umuahia. He joined the school in 1973 and left in 1978 with the West African School Certificate. Because of his industry, he was appointed the school captain in
Government College. In preparation for his university education, young Ekomaru enrolled into the Federal School of Arts and Science, Aba, for his higher school in 1979. A year later in 1980, he gained admission into the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus to read law. He left the university in 1984 with a LL.B (Hons) degree. He was thereafter enrolled into the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, for the mandatory Law School programme. He finished the programme in 1985 and earned his BL. He was subsequently called to the Nigerian Bar. He did his National Youth Service programme in Akure, Ondo State.After an initial pupilage under R. C Azuatalam & Company in Owerri, he established his own law firm - Chukwuma Ekomaru & Associates, which now has offices in Owerri and Abuja with cornucopia of lawyers, administrative and other personnel in 1990.This is how he captured his experience then: 'I was with R.C. Azuatalam in Owerri for my tutelage. I was there for two years. After two years, I and Bethel Ezimako, who was two years older than me left to start a new chamber. He opened the chamber in 126 Wetheral Road and I joined him. I was not a partner and he was not paying me any salary. He had cases and usually gives them to me. When we started legal practice that time, you will come to court and a senior lawyer would put a N10 note into a file and give to you. Some gracious ones would put N20 and ask you to go. And such monies are enough to solve your problems all through the week, to tell you how things were in those days.'The salary I earned for the two years that I worked in the chamber of R.C Azuatalam was N500. Immediately I left that chamber, I had some case in the Armed Robbery Tribunal, which was given to me by Pat Acholonu. He was the chairman of the Armed Robbery Tribunal. He assigned cases to lawyers then, if you finish it, you are paid N250. Even though, I was in the chamber of Azuatulam, he was gracious enough to allow me take those state assignments and even the money that came with it.'The condition for taking those cases was that you must finish the ones assigned to you. So he was pushing cases to me as I was getting them done. After I had appeared before Acholonu close to two years, he asked me: 'how old are you in the Bar'' I told him that I was just getting to my second year and he exclaimed: 'you mean you are just two years in the Bar! Oh, I have been too hard on you. I thought that you have been eight to 10 years in the Bar because of your quality of presentation. You have a very bright future in this profession.' So I used the opportunity to disclose to him that I was still young in practice and that because of those cases he assigned to me, I was able to raise money to buy my first car and prayed that God should see him to the highest level of his career. And it came to pass that he ended up at the Supreme Court. And myself also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria today. The chairman of the Armed Robbery Tribunal is normally a High Court judge.'Even though Ekomaru holds a traditional chieftaincy title of Obia Ozuma Ndigbo(he that makes things happen for Igbos) among other titles, he is deeply religious. He also does not have preference for any particular delicacy since, according to him, his wife has a special culinary skill having studied Home Economics.'I am very religious. I don't even know what is driving me, but what I know is that there is God. My wife is doing a Masters in Home Economics now. She is a super cook. So it would be very unfair to say this is my favourite. Anything she cooks is a delight', he rasped, grinning.He has a lot of inclination towards green colours. His piousness is evident in the numerous philanthropic activities he had done for his local church ' the Anglican Communion and community. He single-handedly roofed St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Umunaoha, Mbaitolu Local Council of Imo State, bought complete choir robe for the church, donated complete musical instrument for the church and built a 16-room two-storey retreat house for Ikeuru Anglican Diocese, Imo State. In addition, he has also sunk borehole and provided water for his community aside other numerous contributions to social development of his people.He is joyfully married to Lady Chinyere Ihuoma Ekomaru. She is a lecturer at the Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri and together they have three sons. First son - Tobechi is a student of the Nigerian Law School, Abuja. The next son, Chukwudi, is a third year medical student of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, while the last son, Obinna, is a law student of Afe Babalola Univeristy, Ekiti State. His hobbies include table tennis, reading, music and gardening.
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