Former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Prof Epiphany Azinge, has emerged as the Asaba monarch-designate as he is set to become the 14th Asagba of Asaba Kingdom in Delta State.
The Asagba-in-Council, which announced the selection of the international legal luminary on Sunday in Asaba, stated that Prof Azinge emerged as the most qualified among the ten contenders in the race for the royal stool.
The contenders hail from Ugbomanta Quarters, whose turn it is, of the five quarters (ebos) of Asaba Kingdom, to produce the next Asagba, who will succeed Obi (Prof) Chike Joseph Edozien, the 13th Asagba of Asaba who had joined his ancestors earlier in the year.
The Ochendo Ahaba (Regent) Dr. Anthony Edozien, announced the result of the selection process in line with the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Edict of 1979, applicable to Delta State, at the former Palace of the Asagba of Asaba at Ezenei Quarters in Asaba, the Delta State capital.
The Asagba-designate, Prof. Epiphany Azinge, SAN, born 13 November 1957, is the 5th Director-General of NIALS. He served 2009 and 2014.
He is a Judge at the Commonwealth Arbitral Tribunal sitting in London, where he represents Nigeria and Africa. He is the founder and senior partner at Azinge & Azinge, a law firm in Abuja where his wife Valerie Azinge, SAN is also a partner.
Epiphany had his secondary education at Sanit Patrick’s College, Asaba from 1970 to 1975. He studied law at the University of Lagos in 1976 and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1980. He proceeded to the University of London for his Master’s degree in comparative constitutional law and shipping law in 1983. He proceeded to the London School of Economics for his Ph.D. His thesis was on Electoral Laws in Nigeria.[1] In June 2015, he was appointed a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal (CSAT) for a period of four years. He was re-appointed for another term of four years in 2019.
The coronation of Obi Azinge is expected to take place in no distant time, following his overall success in the race for the referred stool of Asagba of Asaba, which reportedly featured nine other illustrious titled sons of Asaba.
Other contenders, apart from Prof. Azinge, are Tony Ogugua Konwea, Prof. Emmanuel Onwuka and Ogbuechi Chinedu Esealuka, among others.
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