Barrister Helen Ebai: An Embodiment of justice and star of hope goes home to rest ⁰

The passing into eternal glory of the Lord of the great legal luminary Barrister Helen Ebai has deprived us of a commanding voice at the service of justice and the truth.

I did my first case as a lawyer before her at the Victoria Magistrate Court with the distinguished legal luminary Fon Gorgi Dinka in the case of C. J Woleta v Imoh. Several years later, she briefed me as a counsel in the Besongabang Chieftaincy cases against Barrister Enonchong. 

She was a passionate, tireless and fearless crusader for justice, and a ferocious outspoken defender of the oppressed, the poor and the weak. For many, she was a gadfly in her passionate pursuit of social justice. For others, she was a star of hope in a grossly unjust and corrupt society that at the time of her departure was still at war with its soul.

The Mayanarong was a commander who slayed the beast of impunity and arrogant abuse of power with diction, tact, zeal and the bravery of a Spartan. She was greatly admired, loved and respected by the majority poor and passionate seekers of justice. With these attributes too many to recount, permit me in all humility, to submit that Mrs Helen Ebai qualified for a respectable place on our collective book of life.

I am impelled to make this bold statement about the departed inspirational symbol of hope, because I was a privileged witness of her great contributions to the collective good of humanity.  One quality that was embedded in her towering human qualities was compassion.  I witnessed this in her judgments when she was a magistrate. She was an outstanding lawyer and as a community leader. In her professional law career, on the bench or in the bar, in her private or public life, she commanded attention with dignity, self-respect and exemplary strength of character.

As a Christian in the Catholic Church, I witnessed Mrs. Ebai working tirelessly to reconcile broken relationships within and out of the church. She also dedicated herself in combating the prurient propensity that has unfortunately snowballed into the Church of God. Her mere presence at the site of every conflict inspired the hope that peace would reign as indeed, it did, most of the time.

As we mourn the passing into eternal glory of this great daughter of the Lord, let us give thanks to the Lord for inspiring her as He did ever so often, to eternalize her legacy through her powerful defence of the truth and the rebuke of deception at the expense of  precious human life.

She represented the voice of our enduring genuine human values when she summoned the courage and detachment to remind her audience during a recent meeting summoned by the Prime Minister of Cameroon, that justice and the truth not deception are enduring attributes at the service of peace which is a higher value than political power for the sake power.  She has left behind a monumental record of service to the law, justice and advocacy for the poor, the weak to inspire and guide us on.

May her soul rest in peace

By Chief Charles A. Taku