Death in the pool

26/04/2012 13:36:00 By Mohammed Alabi

Lawi Chibege Danjuma, a Law graduate of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, was the overall best student at the Law School. He died two months after he was called to the Bar. MOHAMMED ALABI (NYSC member, Lagos, and colleague at the Nigerian Law School, Enugu) remembers their days in Enugu.

 

The time you won your town the race;

We cheered you through the market-place

Man and boy stood cheering by,

And home we brought you shoulder-high

 

Today, the road all runner come,

Shoulder-high we bring you home,

And set you at your threshold

 

Smart lad, the slip betimes away

From fields where glory does not stay

And early though the laurel grow

It withers quicker than the rose.

Alfred Edward Housman in To an Athlete Dying Young wrote the above lines, decades ago. The everlasting message became clearer when Lawi Chibege Danjuma, a brilliant budding lawyer and the Overall Best Student at the February 14 call-to-bar of the Nigerian Law School, died in Abuja less than two weeks ago. 

Lawi drowned at a pool where he had gone, with friends, to get some respite, perhaps, from the rigours of office work.

When Lawi was named the Overall Best Graduating student in 2009 by the Faculty of Law, the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, little did his peers know that he was going to replicate the same feat (if not higher) at the Nigerian Law School. True to type, Lawi showed the stuff he was made of at the Enugu Campus. He was vibrant in class, classy in outfit, savvy in outlook and exceptionally nice in his relationship with mates. 

Despite the rigours of academics at the Law School, Lawi had time for students’ politics. He was the General Secretary of the Students Representative Council. He participated actively in the Law Clinic Department, rendering legal services free  to the residents of Agbani community and environs and went ahead to become the Judge in a Moot Court competition. 

Those were however a fraction of his versatility at the Law School. The height was when he became the cynosure of all eyes at the Call-to-Bar. He stole the show when he not only bagged the Overall Best Student title but also carted away seven of the 10 awards for outstanding graduates. Lawi got standing ovations, including a special commentary by the Chief Justice of the Federation and the compeer. 

Notably, the ABU graduate received the Second Best Student in Civil Law award; the Third Best Student in Civil and Criminal Litigation award; the Best Male student of the Year award; three awards for Best Overall Student of the Year from three donors and the star prize from the Council of Legal Education.

Unfortunately, however, like Thomas Gray’s scholars now buried beneath the earth surface, all that seem to be history today as the young lawyer from Adamawa State caved in to death on April 13 in Abuja, in a freak accident at the pool. Lawi has since been buried in his home town, Guyuk Local Government Area of Adamawa State. 

In a chat with some of his ABU and Law School mates, CAMPUSLIFE gathered that it has been a week of mourning for the family and friends. 

To one of his Law School colleagues, who simply identified himself as Ola, and under whose SRC Presidency Lawi served, the news of his friend’s death came as a shock. He asserted that he had spoken with Lawi shortly before he left for the pool so he couldn’t easily come to terms with the news. Ola was his closest ally then at the Law School. Not only were they in the same hostel, both worked closely for the welfare of students in the SRC. 

“It’s devastating. It’s just too devastating to come to terms with!” was his expression when CAMPUSLIFE called him on the phone. 

For Aboyade Usman, his colleague at the ABU, Lawi’s demise is a big blow not only to the family and the university, but also to the legal profession and the country. He recalled that when Lawi was “denied” a First Class at the ABU due to what he tagged as an “unfair, unwritten policy of the faculty not to award the prestigious honours to anyone, no matter how deserving”, everybody grumbled. 

“We believed an exception should have been created for Danjuma-the-Great (as he was fondly called back in school). I am in tears… it is too shocking to believe that Danjuma Lawi is gone. My heart goes out to the family”. 

On his Facebook page, Muhammad-Kabir Abdullah, another ABU classmate wrote: “Adieu brother. The Faculty of Law, ABU, Zaria, will never forget you”.

Lawi’s Facebook wall has been flooded with tributes. Sounding paradoxical, Serena Abu posted: “Even death understood your greatness, wanted an association for himself and claimed you for himself, albeit selfishly…. You will always be remembered among the few great men that ever lived because your reputation supersedes you. You won’t be forgotten because everywhere you went, you left an indelible footprint. R.I.P, you truly deserve it”.

When CAMPUSLIFE visited the Danjumas at their Abuja home, the huge feeling of loss was palpable  and no one was ready to make a comment. Lawi’s father, who is also the Acting Chief Judge of Adamawa State, was not on hand for comments. 

Until his death, Lawi was a youth corps member serving his primary assignment with G-K Gadzama Law firm in Abuja.

Source: http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/mobile/education/campus-life/44486-death-in-the-pool.html