By Douglas Ogbankwa Esq.
An anonymous writer wrote that “The Tragedy in life is not that we die, but what dies inside us while we live.”
Chief (Dr) Patrick Osagie Eholor (aka Ultimate Equal) is an unusual character. Bold, intrepid and caustic, yet he is warm, calm (some times) and benevolent. He has a desire to fight to stand still the oppressors and also so stand with and to show love and care deeply for the vulnerable.
Chief (Dr ) Patrick Eholor -Ultimate Equal – has fought too many legal battles and he is unperturbed because his slogan is ‘No case, No Precedent’. So he has gone on the road less traveled, putting his life on the line, to fight against injustices that cannot affect him personally, but that affects the masses. For this he has been given the sobriquet Advocate of the Masses.
In the first anniversary of the ENDSARS Protest at the Lekki Toll Gate, on the 20th of October, 2021, he was the poster Man of the Anniversary as the police authorities in Lagos made him an international hero, when he was arrested in avoidable circumstances, when paradoxically he was talking in favour of police welfare in a live interview with Arise Television.
He is the first person in Nigerian history that has demanded from a governor how he spends his Security Votes, when he wrote to the Governor of Edo State – Godwin Obaseki – to give details of how money meant for Security Votes are expended. He also remains to my knowledge the only Edolite that has intellectually engaged the authorities of Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) to show proof of local content in the employment of Edolites and the place of the Edo people in the activities and operations of the NPDC. These are already established precedents.
Chief Patrick Eholor has spent millions of naira fighting injustices perpetrated by the ruling class, the irony is that he is also a part of the ruling class. He remains the only Nigerian that has pursued an unfavourable policy of foreign governments against Nigerians abroad, which is his current case against the Chinese Government for restrictions of Nigerians in assessing forex in China, which is currently pending before the National Assembly.
He is one of the few individuals that challenged Nigeria’s Ban of Twitter at the ECOWAS Court of Justice, where he defeated the Federal Government of Nigeria, when Judgment was given in his favour.
Love him or hate him, one thing is certain, you can not ignore him. Today, 24th December is Chief Patrick Eholor’s Day. Happy Birthday to you great man.
It was Ralph Waldo Emerson that posited many years ago that
“It is not length of life that matters, but the depth of life.”
Chief Eholor, you deserve to be celebrated while you are alive, because you are life of the civil rights movement in Nigeria and we love you. Enjoy your birthday sir, you have been a source of inspiration to many through your daily Human Rights Devotionals seen in your daily videos against injustice.We honour you sir.
Africa ‘s First Nobel Laureate in Literature – Prof Woke Soyinka said:
“It is honour, to honour honour and a greater honour to honour those who honour.”
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