Governor Aregbesola extols Justice Eso at farewell session

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Nigeria’s state of Osun on Thursday said in Osogbo that the late jurist, Justice Kayode Eso, would be remembered for his landmark judgments .
Aregbesola spoke at the farewell oratory session held at the state secretariat in honour of Eso, a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The governor said Eso was a gallant man of valour, resilient as well as quintessential person who espoused judicial activism.
He recalled how Eso distinguished himself in a dissenting judgment of six to one during the celebrated 1979 presidential election suit.
The governor also referred to the case of the “ state versus Wole Soyinka”’ which he handled to secure the release of the Nobel Laureate among other landmark judgments.
In his own tribute, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, a former Justice of the Supreme Court, said Eso showed an example of how to live a worthy life for the succeeding generation.
Ayoola, a former Chairman of the ICPC, described Eso as “ a reality that would for ever remain in our memory that men would continue to reminisce for good.’’
Also speaking, Dr Festus Ajayi (SAN), the first Attorney-General of Western Region, said the character of the late jurist was worthy of emulation by all and sundry, saying “I couldn’t believe he had died.’’
He said everyone should continue to see Eso as a man of exemplary character.
Mrs Gloria Oladoke, the Acting Chief Judge of the state, said Eso’s demise was not only a monumental loss to his family but to everyone who knew what the late judge stood for.
Oladoke said the late legal icon stood for quality judgment, forthrightness, truth, love and hard work as revealed in all his judgments.
In attendance at the occasion were the representatives of Ekiti and Ondo State governors, Dr Kayode Fayemi and Dr Olusegun Mimiko, legal practitioners and government functionaries.