Retired judge of the Lagos State High Court, Justice Isiaka Oluwa, reputed to be the oldest judge in the Centre of Excellence, is dead. He died in the early hours of Saturday at the age of 102 years.
Late Justice Oluwa has been buried in accordance with Islamic rites at Atan Cemetery, Yaba, Lagos.
In a tribute to the late justice, the Media Adviser to former Deputy National Chairman, South, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olabode George, Prince Uthman Sodipe, described him as “one of our own, a great Lagosian.”
He said, “Justice Isiaka Oluwa has succumbed to the way of all mortals. Our icon is gone. Justice Oluwa, the very symbol of Lagosians, against what my uncle, General Tajudeen Olanrewaju called “local oppressors,” has passed on at the age of 102.
Sodipe described the late jurist as “a principled man, unafraid, defiant, stern, bold, indifferent to the tools of animadversion.”
He added, “He spoke truth to power with fearless ferocious articulations. He sought no tinseled limelight or the petty glitter of public appearances. He loved Lagos, the land of his birth. And he lived the truth.
“He was unceasing in his collision with the warped, the twisted and with what is wrong with our national structure.
“His voice reverberated with relentless energy, full of engaging fervor, natural, sworn in principled morality. He couldn’t be bought by the pettiness of lucre. He was an island of his own.”
Prince Sodipe also quoted Chief George as describing the late Justice Oluwa as being “definitive of the essence of the Lagosian identity.”
The Atọna Odua also described the late justice as a bundle of principled persona, strong in wit and humor, dedicated to the liberation of Lagos and the oppressed from the whims and the caprices of the oppressors.
Also, paying glorious tribute to the judicial icon, Mr Gbadebo Dallass, who equally knew the late jurist very well, said that “Lagos has lost a great man who could not be compromised by any inducements and who faced adversity with bold, engaging fierceness.
Sodipe added, “The late Justice Oluwa will be sorely missed for his faithfulness to the truth, his principled audacity and his relentless canvass for the righteous path.
“Fare thee well to a great Lagosian, a fearless judge and a gentleman.”
He prayed God to grant his family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
