July 27 every year may not be a public holiday, but it is a date revered by many Nigerians because someone dear to their hearts was born on this day. Today is indeed a special day because Dr. Monday Onyekachi Ubani was born. In his over five decades of sojourn on mother earth, Dr Ubani, like a shining star has continued to radiate love, kindness, empathy to many locally and internationally. His doggedness and courage in standing up for the oppressed in the society has endeared him to the heart of many and made him one of the most loved human rights fighters of our time.
In the last decade, Ubani has spearheaded many agitations for rights of the common man through public interest litigations, media advocacy and stakeholders engagements.
For every oppressive policy of the government either at the federal or state level, in recent years, his voice of condemnation has always been amongst the first to be heard. He is never the kind to keep quiet when the common man is at the wits-end of government’s bad and senseless policies. At the risk of his personal safety, Ubani has never shielded award from speaking truth to power.
During the Covid-19 epidemic when the federal government decided to make vaccination compulsory for civil servant, Ubani did not only kicked against it but also filed an action against the government. The policy was declared illegal by the court and was reversed by the government .
In 2021 when the federal government unilaterally banned the use of Twitter, Ubani was up in arms again with the government in court. After months of legal fireworks, he won the case as the court declared the ban illegal.
That same year when the federal government initiated compulsory Sim and NIN registration and set an unrealistic deadline for it, Ubani dragged the government before the court. After an intriguing legal fireworks, the court sided with Ubani and extended the deadline by two months to give citizens ample time to register their Sim and link their NIN to their bank accounts.
When again the government muted the idea of banning the much love food of the common man ‘Ponmo’ in 2022, Ubani along with many others human rights activists rose up against plan. The idea never saw the light of day thanks to the bark of the peoples advocate.
To Ubani’s credit, Car Dealers across the country whose businesses were perpetually being harassed by Customs officials on a daily basis, can now hive a sigh of relief due to a judicial pronouncement in a suit filed by him.
In the historic judgment, the court declared the practice of raiding Car Marts by Customs officials on account of underpayment of customs duties illegal. Since that judgement, no car mart has been raided again by Customs officials.
Born to a humble family in Awomukwu Village in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State, Ubani has risen from a young ambitious village boy to become a successful lawyer, an opinion moulder and one of the few respected voices on national issues in the country.
Ubani’s quest to impact humanity started way back in 2012 when contested and won the chairmanship position in the ever vibrant Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch and took the branch to the level that no previous or those after him had reached.
His leadership quality and friendship revived the divided branch and made it a very united branch that its voice was feared and respected nationally during his tenure. It was therefore very easy for him when he aspired to the position of the vice presidency at the national level.
He was adopted by the Eastern Bar Forum of lawyers in which he is a member and returned unopposed at the national election of the association that took place in 2016 and became elected with the highest vote even more than that of the president of the Association, an indication of his popularity within the legal circle.
Due to the feat he achieved during his tenure as a second vice-president, Ubani was elected as chairman of NBA-SPIDEL to revive the Section which was almost in comatose. Since mounting the leadership of NBA-SPIDEL, the Section has become a reference point in the fight to enshrine rule of law and hold the government to account.
His act of philanthropy includes the saving of the life of Baby Somaya who had a successful heart surgery in India and came back to Nigeria to the waiting arm of MTN and Praise, a musician who collaborated with MTN to donate the sum of 10 million Naira to the baby. The baby is today a landlady and living a normal life.
He also brought to limelight a lady who worked at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos as a cleaner and returned the sum of 12 million lost money to the owner. That singular act of honesty attracted Dr Ubani and his Foundation, Onyekachi Ubani Foundation and they swung into action and got the lady introduced to Nigeria as the face of a true and honest Nigerian through the mainstream and social media.
The reward to the lady came in torrents: awards, money gifts, employment opportunities and handshakes with the high and mighty in Nigeria. In fact, that promotion of her virtue brought her a husband subsequently She is happily married to her heartthrob. She was eventually given a house and several gifts by former Vice President, Prof Yemi Osibajo SAN.
The plethora of awards that adorn the walls of Ubani’s office and home are true attestation that the labour of this indefatigable humanitarian has not escaped the watchful attention of many credible local and international organizations.
He has been honoured with PHD Honoris Causa by two prominent universities abroad and he is presently pursuing an academic PHD in Babcock University specialising in Public Interest Jurisprudence.
Ubani is married to Lady Faurstina and is blessed with four lovely children, two of whom had earned masters degree from Nottingham and Bournemouth Universites in UK.
