Ohanaeze Ndigbo Congratulates The Asagba Elect

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has congratulated the former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) Professor Epiphany Azinge, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on his emergence as the 14th Asagba of Asaba Kingdom in Delta State.

Prof. Azinge was, at the weekend, elected as the fourteenth Asagba of Asaba Kingdom among an array of contestants to the exalted throne.

In a statement on Monday by its spokesperson, Alex Ogbonnia, in Enugu, Ohanaeze expressed immense delight in the emergence of Prof Azinge as the next Asagba of Asaba.

The statement reads:.

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide joins numerous friends and well-wishers both at home and in the Disdpora to felicitate a prominent member of the Presidential Advisory Council of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, a reflective and erudite scholar, Professor Epiphany Azinge (SAN) as he emerges the monarch-designate as the 14th Asagba of Asaba Kingdom in Delta State.

We also extend our congratulations to the good people of Asaba community for their wisdom in using the parameters of intellectual prowess, merit, competence, sterling qualities and track records of accomplishments in the selection/election process for the new Asagba of Asaba.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo is very proud of Professor Azinge: In spite of his several top-notch national and international appointments, unassailabe success in Law, intellectual renown and other accomplishments, Azinge has maintained a dispositional humility, dignity, character comeliness, Igbo cultural finesse, spiritual balance and marital exemplariness.

The Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Ambassador Okey Emuchay, MFR could not withhold his joy in hearing the good news. He expressed immense delight that the emergence of Prof Azinge as the next Asagba of Asaba has maximized the profiles of the traditional institution in Igbo land.

Epiphany Azinge, SAN was born on November 13, 1957. He attended St Patrick’s College, Asaba; University of Lagos for his LLB; Nigerian Law School for his BL; University of London for LLM and the London School of Economics (LSE) for his PhD. He is a Professor of Law and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).  He served as a Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice; the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced legal Studies; two terms of four years each at the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal (CSAT), among many others. He is the current President of the Commonwealth Arbitral Tribunal.

On behalf of the National Executive Committee of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide and indeed all the sons and daughters of the Igbo, we pray that the Almighty will express himself fully in the Asagba Elect and the amiable wife, Dr. Mrs.  Valerie Azinge (SAN)

Dr. Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide