From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, (AGF), Abubakar Malami, SAN, has revealed that the federal government has secured N57 million in compensation for about 57,134 Nigerian citizens who were victims of motor accidents.

The AGF who disclosed that the compensation was recovered by the Legal Aid Council(LAC), a parastatal under his ministry, commended the Council for its services to Nigerians.

Malami who spoke on Tuesday at the formal renaming of the Legal Aid Council headquarters after the late Chief Timothy Chimezie Ikeazor, SAN, encouraged the management and staff of the council to continue to work hard in rendering legal services to Nigerians.

According to the minister, the council has also recovered over N57m as claims and compensation for victims of motor accidents and provided defence for 224 suspects arraigned before the federal high court for certain offences.

The minister said, “I wish to seize this opportunity to encourage the management and staff of the Legal Aid Council to continue to work hard in rendering legal services to Nigerians, so that the sacrifices of the founding fathers such as Chief Ikeazor, SAN, would not be in vain. Indeed, the success of the Council is only measured by the ability of indigent Nigerians to access justice in an efficient, timely and effective manner.

“It is gratifying to note that since its establishment, the Legal Aid Council has never relented in the discharge of its statutory responsibilities. As of the second quarter of this year alone, the Council the establishment of which was led by Chief Chimezie Ikeazor, SAN, was able to process Legal Aid Services to 57,134 citizens, recovered over N57m as claims/compensation for victims of motor accidents and provided defence for 224 suspects arraigned before the federal high court for certain offences.

The minister added that the Special Task Force of the Council is further promoting the administration of justice and has facilitated the release of 30 Awaiting Trial Inmates in Keffi Correctional Centre in addition to filing applications of the enforcement of fundamental rights of 101 Awaiting Trial Inmates.

“The Police Duty Solicitors Scheme of the Council currently operate in eleven States across the country. This operation has successfully diverted over 7,000 people from the Criminal Justice System and 90% of these persons left police custody during the first 5 days of arrest. It is therefore a thing of joy and indeed my pleasure to stand with legal friends and colleagues on this auspicious day, to celebrate the acknowledgement of the sacrifices made by Chief Ikeazor by naming the Legal Aid Council Headquarters after him. It is my hope that by this great feat his name will remain immortalized within the living memory of all of us in the legal community.”

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In his welcome address, the Director General of the Council, Aliyu Abubakar said the renaming was in recognition of the immense contribution of Ikeazor to the establishment of the Council.

” We are gathered here today in order to honour a man who initiated this laudable institution that is designed to give hope to the hopeless, voice to the voiceless and succour to the downtrodden in their quest for equality, especially within the ambience of the Criminal Justice Administration,” the DG said.
In his words, Nonso Ikeazor, one of the late legal luminary’s children said the free legal aid campaign and association was not without considerable cost to his father.
” His legal practice did suffer from the distraction of the Legal Aid Campaign. He was the chief financier of the campaign and provided his office as the headquarters.

”On behalf of the Ikeazor family, I wish to thank President Muhammadu Buhari, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and the Director-General of the Legal Aid Council for the honour rightly bestowed on our father in renaming the building after him,” he said.

In his vote of thanks, the only surviving member of the association, Felix Offia, who received his award himself, thanked the federal government for the honour bestowed on his late boss, whom he said he also worked with for years.

Born on January 21, 1930, the late Chief Chimezie Ikeazor, SAN, fought for an inclusive justice system in his time in such a way that his altruistic lifestyle guaranteed justice for thousands of the less privileged.
As a founding father of the Legal Aid Council, his legacy remains legendary.

Fondly called Oboli in reference to the hereditary traditional title he got from his hometown, Obosi in Anambra State, Ikeazor on October 12, 2012, passed on, leaving behind a very worthy legacy of standing up for poor Nigerians in courts across the country.

Along with a few like minds – the late Chiefs Solomon Lar, Debo Akande, and Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, he founded and financed the Nigerian Legal Aid Association in 1974 to do this. The platform later became the bedrock for an institutionalised legal aid service in the country.

The association which provided free and mandatory legal services to poor Nigerians also had as one of its founding fathers, Chief Felix Offia.