THE glorious exit of the retired Justice Mustapha Muhammed Adebayo Akanbi who peacefully left this sinful world to the world beyond on the 3rd of June 2018, is a clear attestation to the fact that the finality of death is never a mirage. The late Akanbi was born into the family of Alhaji Akanbi Oniyo on 11th September, 1932 in Accra, Ghana. Posthumously, Justice Akanbi is 86 years old today. Late Akanbi was privileged to have been born in the then Gold Coast and grew up in the country before coming back to his home country, Nigeria. He was the first child, among the children of his father born in Ghana. If he had been born here in Nigeria he probably wouldn’t have had the background and the education that he had. To a lot people, the pioneer Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practice and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and first Wakili of Ilorin, still lives on. He was widely believed to have achieved his personal career targets . Justice Akanbi’s virtues went beyond what one can exhaustively extol in a single write-up,given his invaluable contributions to service to God and humanity which brought him to limelight and unarguably made him a known figure across Sub-Saharan African and beyond.
After retiring from active service voluntarily as the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Akanbi benevolently founded the Mustapha Akanbi Foundation (MAF), and later formed another charitable organization called Massalam Islamic Foundation (MIF), the latter being an offshoot of the former and designed to support the less privileged and indigent children including the sick in various hospitals across the state financially. Other notable initiatives of this erudite Jurist include the Nana Aisha Academy, one of the leading private schools in Ilorin, Nana Aisha Primary School, the Mustapha Akanbi Library and Resource Center, Knowledge Platform and many other people oriented programmes such as visitation to the sick people in both General and Sobi Specialist Hospitals, prisons, communities and villages across the state and presentation of gift items including money to the hosts. He formed these institutions to influence society and impact positively on the people. Most importantly, to leave Nigeria as a better place than he met it. According to late Akanbi “What profits a man if he gains the whole world and does not touch the lives of people meaningfully. I don’t see the essence of life if you cannot influence people”. This mindset inspired him to come up with a popular poem which goes thus: “If you cannot move your world move your continent if you cannot move your continent move your country if you cannot move your country move your town or city if you cannot move your town or city move your home”.
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To assert that Hon. Justice Akanbi was an elder statesman, a colossus, a judicial icon, anti-corruption crusader, an embodiment of sincerity and integrity is to repeat the obvious. In fact, the former President of the Court Appeal has proved beyond doubt that he was a hero of this generation and generation unborn. He was an ocean of Knowledge and kindness from which everybody that came his way drank. For over one and half decades before Justice Akanbi left for the world beyond in June 2018, I enjoyed a close relationship with him . Part of the unique stories about him is that Justice Akanbi prematurely and voluntarily retired as President of the Court of Appeal, a decision that took everybody, especially his colleagues in the profession and associates by surprise. Having served the country in various capacities, Justice Akanbi was In September 1992 appointmented the President Court of Appeal (Nigeria), the month he clocked 60 years, the post he held until he voluntarily retired in January 1999 before reaching the compulsory retirement age of 70 .
Shortly after his retirement from the bench, the Ilorin born judge was appointed Chairman of Enquiry into embezzlement of Funds and Problems in the National Fertilizer Company Limited (NAFCON) at Onne, Port Harcourt in 1999. His credible performance and the display of high level of unblemished integrity at the Enquiry informed the then President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo to appoint him as the Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC). The appointment was a recognition of his impeccable integrity, honesty and forthrightness as a judicial officer having retired from the bench as an incorruptible judicial activist. With his wealth of experience, he established ICPC and set the necessary machinery in motion to fight corruption. So many cases were filed in court during his tenure against highly-placed Nigerians such as the former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, three senators and two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), a Commissioner in INEC and so many others who were indicted for corruption. As a man of impeccable integrity, he made sure that those who worked with him at ICPC either in the Administrative or Legal Department were also people with proven integrity who will not compromise the philosophy and objectives of the ICPC.
He served ICPC with great credit and he put in all his wealth of experience to lay a strong foundation for the anti-corruption agency. For the good job he did at ICPC, he was offered a second term by the former president Obasanjo, an offer he declined. On retiring from ICPC, he came to his hometown, Ilorin, a decision that is very unusual among sons and daughters of Ilorin who had risen to the apex in their chosen careers. Justice Akanbi came home and set up Mustapha Akanbi Foundation (MAF) and later Ma’assalam Islamic Foundation (MIF). He equally set up an Islamic school, primary and secondary schools and then started his humanitarian services through these organizations.
- Isiaka writes in from the Directorate of Corporate Affairs, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
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