THE story of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), especially its enviable role as a defender of democracy during the murderous days of military dictatorship in Nigeria cannot be told and completed without Mrs. Priscilla Kuye getting a spectacular mention. She is privileged to remain the first and only female national president of the revered association of all Nigerian lawyers, thereby holding a record that is yet to be beaten at the Bar. While that garland hangs on her neck, she would most probably be remembered more for her resilience, courage and forthrightness in the face of repression and tyranny. She has made tremendous contributions to the legal profession at the various stages that she had served.The best of this activist Bar leader came to the fore when she assumed office at the height of military regime in 1992 and with bravery and determination weathered the storm. Her time at the leadership of the Bar could best be described as one of the most turbulent in the history of the NBA, because they (the leadership of the NBA) had to speak up against the excesses and recklessness of the military government of Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Such dissenting voices were very rare in those dictatorial days.Unwavering, Kuye, who could rightly be referred to as a legal amazon, became a serious thorn in the flesh of successive military dictators, particularly the administration of Gen. Babangida who tried variously to emasculate her, including disruption of the NBA national conference at Port Harcourt, River State, in 1992 as well as the concerted effort to polarise the association. When disruption and polarisation of the association failed, she was approached to become Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation as a subtle way to silence her voice but she turned it down.This is how Mrs. Kuye explained the event of those days to the Guardian: 'In 1992, when I became the president of the Nigerian Bar Association, we had a turbulent time and we spoke against the excesses and recklessness of the military government. That was during the period of the ill-fated M.K.O. Abiola presidency. The NBA under me was always criticising the government but they didn't like it. When we were trying to hold our election, the military disrupted that election.They wanted their surrogate to become the president of the NBA. Each time we tried to hold NBA meeting, the military would lock the hall and prevent us from holding the meeting. They even tried to kill me. As a way of caging me when threats failed, they approached me to become the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. I rejected it and they said they would appoint me to the Court of Appeal Bench.I rejected it as well because I believe that the position of the NBA president is greater than all these as at that time. The NBA is the watchdog of the society, a role that became more sacrosanct under the military'.At 71, Mrs. Kuye, who is very energetic and still goes to court regularly, plays golf. She attributed her source of strength and energy to God. As a well-known human rights activist, she uses the platforms of the law and some of other social organisations she belongs to, to fight for the cause of justice. She says she would like to be remembered as 'a good and religious woman who feared God and who contributed her quota to the upliftment of the people whose human rights were infringed upon'.There is also a part of Kuye's life that is not known to many. The blood of royalty flows in her veins. Her full names are Dame Priscilla Olabori Aderonke Kuye (nee Adekogbe). Born in Lagos, Nigeria on August 18, 1940 to the Oba of Ijebu-Ikija town in Ogun State, Oba Luke Ademola Adekogbe and Queen Elizabeth Adeyemi Adekogbe, she started her primary education at Saint James Primary School, Ibadan and ended it in Saint Anne's School, Ibadan. She later got admitted at Saint Theresa's College, Ibadan where she obtained her West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1957. She had wanted to study medicine, perhaps to have the opportunity to render care to people, but providence planned otherwise and she ended up studying law.After graduating from Saint Theresa's College and clearing her WASC examination, Kuye proceeded to the University of London, Gray Inn, where she earned her Bachelor of Law (LL.B) in 1966 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in June 1967.Determined, however, to fulfill a part of her heart passions, she qualified afterwards as a registered nurse. That she did at Saint Bartholomew's Hospital, England, in partial fulfillment of her earlier desire to study medicine before she later settled for law.Her activism and unionism at the Bar was horned at the Lagos branch of the NBA. She was a Lagos NBA erstwhile officio member, auditor, financial secretary and later treasurer in 1984. Having performed creditably well, national assignments beckoned. She was NBA national financial secretary. 1987, she became the second National Vice-President of the association. She was returned unopposed as the second national vice president in August 1989. Kuye was later elected first vice president in August 1991 at Owerri, Imo State.Ultimately, she became president of the national Bar on January 24, 1992, and by that, broke the record as the first female to become the president of the NBA. She was a member of the Council of Legal Education, life member of Body of Benchers, current member of Disciplinary Committee of the NBA. From 1988 to 1991, she served the NBA as the chair of the human rights committee. She also attended many of the national annual conferences of the Nigerian Bar Association and as well represented the NBA at the Commonwealth Lawyers' Association, the International Bar Association, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and the Body of Benchers during her tenure as president of the association.She contributed to the review of Nigerian company law. She was appointed as a member representing the NBA on the Assembly on the Review of the Nigerian Company Law and served as a Trustee of the Nigerian Bar Association in the year 2003. Kuye is a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NBA.Her footprint in the activities of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) is indelible. As such, she is a life member of FIDA. She was FIDA's first Regional Vice-President for Africa in Nigeria from 1979-1981 and served the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) as executive member, general secretary, vice president and deputy president before being elected as the president in 1999. She completed her tenure of office in August 2003.Mrs. Kuye served as a member of the National Committee on Women and Children, a body, which examined local and international laws dealing with women and children.The committee's recommendations were submitted to the government.While at the NACC, she worked on the Technical/Business Committee of the National Co-ordinating Committee, which organised the programme for Mr. Bill Clinton, former President of the United States of America's (USA) state visit to Nigeria from August 26 ' 28, 2000. She was a member, Consultative Forum of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (Nigeria) of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as well as a former member, Organising Committee, Lagos State Economic Summit. She is also a former chairman, Justice Committee of the Lagos State Transition Work Group, which made recommendations in respect of the Lagos State Judiciary.Appointed in March 2004 by the United Nations Educational and Scientific Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to draft the convention on the protection of the diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions with other world legal experts in Paris, Mrs. Kuye carried out her job diligently. She is also a member of Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) and served as deputy chairman, Institute for Government Research and Leadership Technology.At the religious front, Mrs. Kuye is not lagging behind. Little wonder, why she would want to be remembered as a religious woman. She indeed is one, having served as the founding president, Archdiocesan Confraternity of Christian Mothers, Lagos Catholic Archdiocese, immediate past national president, Confraternity of Christian Mothers, Nigeria, immediate past president, Catholic Women Organisation, (CWO) Church of The Assumption, Falomo, Ikoyi Lagos.She was the first Catholic woman to become president, Archdiocesan Laity Council, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos in 1986. Her presidency ran between 1986 and1990. She also served the laity Council as the vice-president, as well as the provincial Chairman, Laity Council, Lagos Ecclesiastical Province. In recognition of her contributions to the church, she was awarded pro ecclesia et pontifice medal by His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, in 1981.She was also honoured by the Institute of Internal Auditors of Nigeria for meritorious and distinguished service in commerce and industry and was given award of excellence for equity, justice and peace and made a Senior Fellow of the Institute.Marlborough University, U.S.A. on November 29, 2003 conferred on her the Honorary Doctorate Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Business Administration (Bus. Admin.) She was inducted into the Nigerian Women Hall of Fame, National Centre for Women Development Abuja, as the first female president of The Nigerian Bar Association on November 3, 2007.Dame Kuye was honoured with the 'inspirational woman award' in recognition of her dedicated service to humanity and her contribution to the realisation of the vision and aspiration of Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO) and the course of Women Development on the October 28, 2009. A book titled; New Thoughts in the Administration of Justice has been written in her honour.She was honoured with the 'Woman of Distinction Award' for 50 Nigerian women as part of the 50th Independence Anniversary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in October 2010. She was given Life Time Achievement Award on December 9, 2010, by the Business Day Media Limited, which organised the Nigeria Legal Awards 2010.She is married to Chief Omowale Ajani Kuye, a lawyer and economist and the Otun Olubadan of Ibadanland. Blessed with children and grandchildren, her son Ademola Kuye is also a lawyer and one of her daughters also a lawyer is married to the Braithwaites.
Click here to read full news..
