FIFTY: A JUBILEE OF PURPOSE

BY SABASTINE ANYIA

Today I turn 50. Fifty years of life, and over two decades in the trenches of law — defending the voiceless, challenging illegality, and insisting that the Constitution means what it says.

I look back at courtrooms where we argued pre-action notice, jurisprudence, Land cases , Contracts etc until the judges themselves nodded. I remember the clients whose fundamental rights were restored because someone refused to say “It’s too difficult.” I think of the sleepless nights drafting processes, the early morning filings, the appeals we won not because we were smarter, but because we were stubborn for justice.

Human rights work in Nigeria is not glamorous. It is often thankless. You lose friends in high places. You learn that delay is a tactic and procedure can be a weapon. Yet every time a detainee walks free, every time an unlawful demolition is stopped, every time a citizen realizes “I actually have rights,” it’s worth it.

At 50, I am not tired. I am tempered. The law has taught me patience, equity has taught me strategy, and my clients have taught me courage. The Nigerian Bar has given me brothers and sisters who fight the same fight — sometimes in different robes, but always for the same principle: justice shall not be for sale, and rights shall not depend on connection.

To the young lawyers reading this: the work is hard, but the cause is holy. Read the Rules. Master the procedure. But never let technicalities bury the truth. Pre-action notice has its place, but so does Section 46 of the Constitution. Know when to use each.

To my seniors and colleagues at the Bar: thank you for the mentorship, the debates, the times you corrected me in open court and encouraged me in chambers after. Iron sharpens iron.

To my family: thank you for understanding the missed birthdays, the late calls from clients in crisis, the files that took over the dining table. Your patience is my foundation.

For my three sisters, you are everything to me.

And to God: 50 years is mercy. Every brief, every judgment, every setback — You were there.

As I enter this Jubilee, my prayer is simple:
More wisdom for the bench. More courage for the Bar. More justice for Nigeria.
The next chapter begins. The work continues.

Thank you for walking this road with me.
10/5/2026 — 50 and just getting started.

GoldenJubilee

#HumanRightsLawyer

#NigerianBar

#JusticeFor All

• Anyia is currently NBA First Vice President

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