This is Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) He is a Nigerian lawyer and also a senior advocate of Nigeria. A brilliant lawyer and one of the finest Nigerian lawyers alive.
Dr Ikpeazu’s forte is election petition and let me explain why: Dr Ikpeazu is Adeleke’s head of legal team that is handling his matter in court.
This man brilliantly came up with the argument that INEC returning Officer as it were lacked the locus to cancel the Osun state governorship concluded election. His reasons were simple: Our electoral laws did not empower the Returning officer to do so and to his credit, Osun state tribunal members affirmed his brilliant argument by declaring his client winner.
Dr Ikpeazu will be leading Adeleke’s legal team all the way to Supreme Court and I know that with his deep profound knowledge of our electoral laws and his sheer brilliance which is beautiful to watch, victory is sure for the maligned Adeleke. But aside this, what many people did not know that this was the same man that got the court to cancel Chris Ngige’s stolen mandate as the brief governor of Anambra state and then declare the not so popular Peter Obi as the governor of Anambra state in 2006.
Dr Ikpeazu marshaled his argument with eloquence and conviction from the lower court to Appeal court that Peter Gregory Obi was rigged out by Chris Uba and Ngige with iron clad evidences attached, the court after hearing his brilliant submission from this Onitsha born lawyer and with the evidences on their table can’t help but declare Peter Obi as the rightful governor of Anambra state even when many pessimists thought it was impossible for the court to do so at that time.
What this means is that he is the first Lawyer in our history to convince a Nigerian court to send a sitting governor packing. And he is about to repeat the same feat with Adeleke. What a man! History they say has a way of repeating itself.
An evasive and a quiet family man that shuns media publicity and the glamour associated with senior silk in this part. He prefers his work to do the talking for him. A giant and a colossus of the legal profession.
Take a bow Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu! You have done well sir and history will remember the role you played in advancing and shaping our legal profession.
