Kaa! i bayisale!, unu abiale!

Hon. Justice Kalu Okpan Anyah is aptly regarded by many as a ‘man of many firsts’. He is the first son of Ohafia and the third from the old Bende Division of Abia State (after the late Barrister E.K Uku of Arochukwu who was called to the Bar on September 14, 1949 and late Barrister Echeme Emole of Abiriba who was called on September 2nd 1952), to become a lawyer. Late Dr. Jaja Anucha Wachuku (who was called to the Bar on the 1st October 1947) was the first person of Abia State extraction to become a lawyer. Called to the English Bar on February 11th 1954, and enrolled as Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on March 27th 1954, Hon. Justice Anyah shared illustrious company in his set. Eminent dignitaries Notable and eminent dignitaries such as Chief Kehinde Sofola, SAN, and Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister, (both deceased) were of his class. Upon his return from England, he had a short stint in private practice as a legal practitioner. He found immense satisfaction in legal practice and this took him through the Southern Cameroons before his preferment to the lower Bench as the first Magistrate from the present Abia State. After his appointment to the Magistracy, Justice Anyah rose steadily through the ranks and became the first lawyer of Abia State extraction to be appointed a Chief Magistrate. A short while later, he was entrusted with the office of Chief Registrar of the High Court of Eastern Nigeria. On the 15th of March 1966, he was elevated as judge of the High Court of Eastern Nigeria (vide Eastern Nigeria Gazette 1966 No. 36 Vol. 15 page 376, Eastern Nigeria Notice No. 525; Bench and Bar in Nigeria by Gani Fawehinmi, page 78). Upon the creation of the defunct East Central State, he became a judge of the High Court of that state and was subsequently inherited by the High Court of Imo state when that state was created in 1976. Happily, other Bende sons were to join him on the bench much later. To name but a few of these gentlemen: Abai Ogbonaya Ikwechegh was appointed a Judge of the High Court of East Central State on 3rd February, 1972 (vide Nigeria Official Gazette 1972 No. 6 Vol. 59 page 201, Government Notice No. 379; Bench and Bar in Nigeria by Gani Fawehinmi, pages 136, 137 and 89 respectively). Hon. Justice Anaga Kalu Uche, also deceased and of Ohafia extraction, cannot be easily forgotten. Several distinguished judges of Abia extraction have also joined the roll of honour.