Umuaka Times reveals why JOL Ezeala read law.
4 min read
Mr Samuel Ezeala, the late father of the erudite Professor of Law, Jude Ezeala, the Egbendu 1 of Umuaka was himself a “lawyer” of some sort. He was a court clerk in the former Orlu District during the colonial era, where he and some European colonial masters held court sessions in the old Orlu District. In those days, the judges were addressed in Igbo language as Nwa Dishi or District Officer. Because of the configuration of the society then, Mr Ezeala was living in Orlu while he left his family back home in Umuaka.
On a certain sunny day when the man had closed for the day’s work, a family member trekked all the way from Umuaka to Orlu to inform the court clerk (Mr Samuel Ezeala) that his wife, had put to bed. On hearing this great news, Mr Samuel Ezeala was overwhelmed by joy as he did not know how to express the enormity of his happiness. He sang songs, danced and thanked God for the gift and eventually decided to trek home with the family relation so as to have a glimpse of the new born baby and his wife.
Before embarking on the long walk from Orlu to Umuaka, he decided to seek permission from his boss so as to enable him spend a good time with his family. He happily went to the residence of the District Officer, who was perhaps a racist to inform the man about the good news and seek the approval of the permission he sought.
As God would have it, the D.O approved the permission for Mr Ezeala to travel to his village to see his family. His request was granted with a very tough conditionality; a period of one day was given to him to visit his family and resume work the following day. In truth, this was as good as refusing to grant the request because there was no way that could be achieved in one day. Take a long walk from Orlu to Umuaka, spend time with your family, attend to their needs, receive visitors and trek back to Orlu on the same day.
The following day, the youthful Samuel Ezeala left Orlu for Umuaka and arrived after several hours of trekking. The all round trip took a period of two days and on the third day, the man left Umuaka for Orlu to resume at his duty post.
When the white jurist or judge saw him, he was very angry to the extent that he charged Ezeala with contempt of court. He also found him guilty on the same contempt charge. On the same day, he was punished by the same judge (D.O.) and the punishment was to engage Mr Samuel Ezeala on grass cutting at the peak of the sun.
As Ezeala was cutting the grasses, he was asking himself some certain questions: how did I go against the rules of this court? How does this Whiteman expect me to trek from Orlu to Umuaka, stay with my family and come back the same day? Does it mean that this D.O had no children or their women don’t put to bed?
After asking himself these questions, the youthful Ezeala decided to fight back. His decision to fight back remains one of the best examples to prove that success is the best revenge. He said to himself; “This D.O, whoever you think you are, I will show you I am not a man you can mess around with. My son must be a lawyer and he will convict your fellow Whitemen in the Whitemen’s country”. (He may have possibly added anuohia at the end of the speech.)
In the process of time, the son of Mr Samuel Ezeala by name Jude Ezeala had finished his secondary school education as a science student and was admitted in IMT Enugu to read telecommunication engineering. He went to Enugu and started receiving lectures for the engineering course.
On one particular day he visited home, his dad sat him down and told him the story of what transpired between him and the District Officer. After hearing the story, the young Jude Ezeala saw that as a big challenge to the family. He too decided to fight back! He sought admission in the United States and eventually got one at Howard University. A couple of years later, the young Mr Jude Eeala who travelled to the United States for studies came back as Dr JOL Ezeala with a law degree dangling on his neck.
Umuaka Times also discovered that JOL Ezeala who never practiced law in the United States told the same story to his sons, Barrister Justin Ezeala and Barrister Chukwuma Ezeala. Like father like son, Chukwuma, the youngest of the Ezeala lawyers, decided to fight back. After his graduation as a lawyer, he stayed back in the United States to practice law.
As his grandfather boasted, that his son would convict Whiteman in their own country, Chukwuma, the young lawyer did not only practice law in a Whiteman’s land, he also convicted some of them who went against he laws of the land.
The above story according to the findings made by Umuaka Times was why Prof JOL Ezeala changed from being an engineering student to a law student and eventually a lawyer and a father of lawyers.
Death can only kill humans, it does not kill stories.
