ELISHA YAKUBU KURAH, SAN : WE WILL NOT FORGET YOU

By Gloria Mabeiam Ballason Esq

NEWSDAILYNIGERIA: Dear Oga Elisha Yakubu Kurah SAN,

We will not forget You.

We will not forget your courage, industry, sagacity and candour.

We will not forget the titan you were in the Court room and how you commanded respect from the Bench and Bar.

We will not forget your brilliance, energy, high commitment to ethics, spartan discipline and your straight-shot at issues.

We will not forget your leadership, generosity and how you showed up and out in times we didn’t imagine.

I will not forget the sound of your laughter when I hyped Elder Suleiman Farman Esq as he told the story of how back in the day as tax collector, he toasted village babes and gave them lift on his bicycle.

I will not forget the times you showed up in my happy times and at my worst because I know just how challenging it was to pull you away from office and the Courtroom and I imagine how you prioritized me to make those sacrifices- and there were quite a number of them.

I will not forget your reaction at the surprise birthday we gave you in March this year. It turned out to be your last. You were really thankful at our very modest effort to show that you were not just a transactional human-doing to us, but a leader loved, respected and one we regard in awe. And, oh! what an Alabaster Birthday it now is.

If we were to give you your flowers, there would be loads of it. I do not think we gave enough bouquets, but I hope you atleast caught the whiff because you were, in the words of Learned Silk Emmanuel JJ Toro SAN, a MAN. There was something about your name, for you were indeed, KURAH – the Hyena that took charge of his territory.

The legal profession and those who knew you will miss you.

I will miss you Oga. I will miss the legal tutoring and what you taught me about approaching a predetermined Court. I will miss the exchange of ideas and just knowing that you were there to keep gusts of wind away for our people.

The Sun has now set. The night is here. You ran your race. You fought your fight; and now, you bid farewell to mortality to welcome immortality- into the safe and loving arms of our Saviour.

Someday we too shall awake in that Celestial City where death does not cast its shadow.

Sai Zi Ba Oga. Sai Kantswon Learned Silk .

15 March,1961 – 15 June, 2023