Death is nothing at all. It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened. ..
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used...
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me...
All is well, nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting
When we meet again.
-Canon Henry Scott Holland (1910)
Two events in 1997 established
significant milestones in the career of Bankole Olumide Aluko S.A.N.
In the same year he was admitted as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute
of Arbitrators, his country also honoured him with admission into
the Inner Bar of the legal profession. For a man who had devoted
a good part of his life to the pursuit of excellence in litigation
and arbitration, the two major vehicles of dispute resolution, there
was no other way that things could have turned out.
Bankole's character and his attitude to life's success as a whole,
define the exemplary success that he achieved in both litigation
and arbitrator. Dispute resolution is by its very nature a process
that involves adversity. Whether as counselor as arbitrator, Bankole
approached dispute resolution with an attitude of maturity, flexibility,
selflessness and a keen sense of fairness and justice. In one respect
only he made no compromise: hard work -meticulous hard work. He
was painstakingly detailed and abhorred mediocrity.
Aside from the significant contributions Bankole has made to the
legal profession through his practice, he has also contributed to
law development through public oriented and humanitarian initiatives.
He conducted several pro-bono cases at trial and appellate courts,
and was actively involved in the Lagos State Government's law reform
efforts. At the Federal, level, members of the House of Representatives'
Committee on Information will remember his brilliant testimony at
the Committee's hearing September 2001, in which he eloquently argued
in favour of a Freedom of Information Act, which would give all
Nigerians a right of access to information about the conduct of
public affairs.
Bankole was not only a brilliant lawyer; he was a brilliant human
being the quintessential gentleman, urbane, suave, well spoken and
well mannered. He was friendly and courteous to high and low alike.
His junior colleagues have many fond memories of shared popcorn
and ‘suya’, while watching football matches on TV; or
at the stadium. He bought the tickets of course!
There is no better testimony to 'Kole's versatility than the diversity
of the subjects in which his work has contributed to law development
in Nigeria. Bankole has litigated subjects ranging from complex
commercial disputes to public and constitutional law controversies.
In 1994, he conducted an appeal that resulted in the Court of Appeal's
first (and so far, only) decision that underscored the flaws in
our procedural rules for reciprocal enforcement of judgments. That
decision exposed the anomaly that Nigeria's arrangements with foreign
countries for reciprocal enforcement of judgments is governed by
an outdated 1953 colonial ordinance, with the result that the only
country with which Nigeria has reciprocal arrangements for the enforcement
of judgments is the United Kingdom.
In 1998, the Supreme Court of Nigeria upheld his arguments that,
based on a 1997 amendment to the 1979 Constitution, there could
be no appeal to the Supreme Court from interlocutory decisions of
the Court of Appeal, a decision that was applauded as recording
a milestone in efforts to address delays in the administration of
justice.
In the area of Matrimonial law, Bankole led the conduct of litigation
in 1999 that recognized the married woman's right to an equal share
of property acquired by the spouses after, or in contemplation of
marriage.
Bankole loved and lived life to the fullest. He worked. He also
shared our joys, and our sorrows. Busy though he was, he was never
too busy to drop in on our office birthday celebrations; his presence
was always felt at the weddings of our colleagues. Whenever, as
is inevitable, the untoward occurred in the lives of anyone of us,
Bankole could always be counted on for support and empathy.
Kole was a man of many parts. And the parts all added up so well
in him, we can stand up and say "this was a man!”
We celebrate Kole's successful life. But we also mourn the loss
that his death has brought to his family, to us at Aluko & Oyebode,
to the Nigerian Bar Association, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators,
the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, and the legal profession
as a whole.
Adieu! Great Partner, Brother, Friend and Colleague.
