Nigeria’s leading legal eagles were as one as they mourned the passing of Justice, Sir Hon. Pius Olayiwola Aderemi.
The jurist, who recently retired from the Supreme Court, was also mourned, by the profession, in the United Kingdom-base of his son, Olakunle.
One of the country’s most forthright and incorruptible jurist, the devoted Catholic and leading defender of the law, was a member of the National Judicial Council, the Body of Benchers of Nigeria, and a Papal Knight of St Gregory the Great.
One of the very few jurists whose record was intact while on Bench, the Honourable Justice Pius Olayiwola Aderemi stood out as a unique personality on the Bench – an assertion which was by no means intended to disparage or doubt the sterling qualities of the eminent jurists, and fellow-justices, whose inputs have helped to stabilize the polity in recent times.
As the country remain eternally grateful for who proved to be a seminal contributor to The Bar, the country, and greater continent, his practice became eminently used by fellow- jurists and academics alike.
Passing away at the age of 79, Sir Hon. Pius’s legacy continues on as his son, Olakunle, also a lawyer and who plies his law trade in the United Kingdom, was lucky to be with his father shortly before he passed on.
He said: “Luckily for me, I saw him just before I left for Lagos.
“My father didn’t want me to study Mass Communication which I originally studied,” he recalled.
“He wanted me to study Law because he was already a lawyer then. I got admission to the University of Ife then to read Law, but I didn’t like it.
“He referred me to a Felix Adenaike, his friend, who sorted me out. He said he should allow me to study what I wanted to and that was how I went to the Ibadan Poly where I read Mass Communication to HND level.
“I am a trained journalist. But today, I am a lawyer. I studied Law in the United Kingdom in order to satisfy my father, but, funny enough, he never knew I studied Law.
“I never told him till he died. I needed to have a deep knowledge of law because of the nature of work I do which entails contract.
“I studied it not mainly to practice but because of my work. We have enough lawyers in the house already. I have a brother who is a lawyer, and a sister who is a Magistrate.”
When Nigeria was a 19-States country, Aderemi had offices in all the 19 states: “He (dad) worked hard,” recalls Olakunle. “Hard work was his passion.
You couldn’t be with him and be a lazy person. I remember when I was writing my School Certificate exams in 1978, I would be at the back of his office at Sango, opposite the Cemetery reading on weekends.
He was a fantastic man – and even greater father.
And as such I will be eternally grateful to him.”
Justice Aderemi was survived by children and grandchildren.