CI-NEWS

Fako lawyers mourn fallen baobab.

2019-09-24

No: 448

Fako lawyers mourn fallen baobab.

By NyentyEgbeachang.

Members of the Fako Lawyers’ Association (FAKLA), particularly those in Limbe, were thrown into mourning when the sudden death of Barrister Mrs. Helen Ebai Ayuk spread like wild fire in the dry season on September 5, 2019.

Speaking to this reporter a day after the fall of Baobab Helen Ebai Ayuk, Barrister Enow Benjamin, president of FAKLA who is also the representative of the president of the Bar Council in Fako, member of the Bar Council and managing partner Liberty Law Firm in Mutengene, said he got the news at about 8 pm on September 5 on his way from Yaoundé where he was attending a meeting at the Ministry of Justice as member of the Bar Council.

Barrister Enow Benjamin said the death came without notice, because he heard no news of Barrister Ebai Helen being ill. He added that she has left a vacuum as a most senior and respected lawyer who mixed freely with the young and was always ready to stretch a helping hand.

Barrister Enow described her death as an unfortunate situation because young lawyers had lost such a loving mother who was outgoing and had a free spirit. The FAKLA president went on to state how Mama Ebai was the first lawyer to resign as a magistrate and join her husband in Limbe. Her resignation was explained to the fact that she found it funny for a person to be compelled to work in presence as a magistrate under subordination.

Barrister Enow Benjamin went on to describe Mama Ebai Helen as a role model to young lawyers. He said they looked up to her as a person they could always run to for help because she was generous, her face always had a permanent smile and she always made extra donations at events to make sure that every person was satisfied. He added that Mama Ebai was a smart lawyer who revamped Ebai Law Firm which has eight lawyers. She is also credited with training over 15 lawyers and making the legal profession better than she met it.

The FAKLA president exhorted lawyers of Ebai Law Firm to close ranks because the task ahead of them now is enormous in terms of keeping her legacy, running the office and doing the things she loved doing to bring people together so as to immortalize her office.

For his part, Barrister Obi Arrey Emmanuel of Parker and Associate Law Office said the loss is unimaginable because Mama Ebai Helen saw him through from primary school to what he is today. While lamenting the loss, Barrister Obi Arrey Emmanuel recounted how he trained as pupil law at Ebai Law Firm from 2000 – 2003, became a full advocate in 2003 and worked at the law firm until 2011 when he asked mama to permit him to try his feet outside under her watchful eyes whereupon he left and set up his own law office.

Mourning and rejoicing is a huge paradox because he received the demise of Mama Ebai at the time he was about to have his first bite of the day. He said, everything went sour and he felt like he was in trance. Barrister Obi said, when he recovered from the shock, he revealed the sad news to those around him and drove to the Limbe Regional Hospital Mortuary in company of five other lawyers for the necessary ritual before the preservation of the corpse in the mortuary.

Mama Ebai Helen was a social critic who cut across the literary word. Barrister Obi Arrey added that she was found in every domain of the legal profession, the church, the community and everywhere you found humans. She was a saint, Barrister Obi Arrey concluded.

A tearful Barrister Baiye Etchuin said he was mourning his mother, a mother of the people who died so suddenly before her travel papers could be ready for her to be evacuated abroad for medical attention. “It is a great loss”, Barrister Baiye Etchu said, doubting if Mama Ebai Helen is truly dead. It all happened on September 5 Barrister Baiye who is also the head at Ebai Law Firm revealed, adding that although Mama had complained of not feeling very normal nobody could think that such a malaise could take her life at 5:30 pm.

Barrister Baiye Etchu lamented that Barrister Mrs Ebai Helen is a great loss to the Batchuo – Ntai people, the Bessongabang people, the Catholic Church and the entire community. He promised that he and his collaborators at Ebai Law Firm would do their best to preserve her legacy. He further revealed that he knew Mama Ebia Helen for over 23years and that she brought him up, trained many lawyers.

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Fako lawyers mourn fallen baobab.