One of the famous Senior Advocate of Nigeria, J.S Okutepa has joined million of Nigerians to mourn late Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim, the first SAN from Northern Nigeria, Kogi State.
J.S Okutepa who noted that the demise of late Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim SAN is a fatal blow to him, entire legal profession and particularly Igala Nation also said late icon has lived pious life.
In a five paragraphs tribute, J.S Okutepa writes thus:
” Death has just dealt a fatal blow to me, the entire legal profession, Nigeria and in particular the Igala nation. Today we lost Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim SAN to the cold hands of death.
This legal Icon, Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim CON, SAN, was a former Attorney General of the Federation, former Minister of Education Federal Republic of Nigeria and the first Senior Advocate Advocate of Nigeria from the North. He was a Nigerian of Igala extraction.
Baba your death today after your 82 birthday day which was on the 14th January 2021 came to me as a rude shock.
I spoke to you on your birthday. You did not show sign that you were ready to go the way of all mortals. You were a gentleman of extra ordinary impeccable character.
You lived a pious life. You were such a principled legal Practitioner. You were a very contented man.
You practised your faith with assiduous commitments, always putting God first in what you did. Baba you touched many lives.
You found me out and adopted me as a son. You were always visiting me both at home and in the office. Baba you lived a very impactful life. Adieu Baba Abdullahi Ibrahim CON SAN”.
Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim died at the Garki Hospital Abuja, yesterday being 25th January 2021, after a few days of admission at the hospital and he has since been buried according to Islamic rite at his home town, Okaba in Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State.
A Brief Biography Of Late Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim CON SAN:
Ibrahim was called to the English Bar in 1963, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1964. He served as Legal Adviser and Senior State Counsel in the defunct Northern Region of Nigeria. He entered private practice in 1973 as Managing Partner of Abdullahi Ibrahim and company. Ibrahim was Legal Adviser and later Chairman of New Nigeria Development Company Limited, (NNDC). In 1982 he was admitted to the Inner Bar as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He was Chairman of the Body of Benchers until 2001. He was a Notary Public, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague and Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee.
Ibrahim held cabinet positions as Federal Minister of Education, Science and Technology. He was Minister for Transport and Aviation (1984–1985) in the cabinet of General Muhammadu Buhari.
He was Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice of Nigeria (1997 – May 1999) in the cabinet of General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
He was a Commissioner of the International – National Boundary Commission, and was a member of the Nigerian team that negotiated the Maritime Boundary Treaty between Nigeria and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and the Unitization Agreement of the Zafiro/Ekanga Oil Fields. He was the agent and later co-agent in the dispute between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of Cameroon at the International Court of Justice at The Hague. He died on Sunday 24 January 2021 of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
