MY BEAUTIFUL SISTER CHINWE BY HON JUSTICE IJEM ONWUAMAEGBU CHIEF JUDGE EMERITUS ANAMBRA STATE
At Archdeacon Crowther Memorial Girls’ School, Elelenwa, Port Harcourt, we were taught to prefix the names of senior students with “Sister” not “senior”. I did not know or meet her before that day in January 1966, but somehow, I recognized her immediately. Sister Chinwe Okoye.
She was an angel, ethereal, gentle, lovely, demure and everything good. She was beautiful.
Sister Chinwe Okoye was 16 and in Form 5 and I was eleven, a “fresher” and “a green toad” and I dared to claim her as my “supe” (my special friend). I made sure I always stayed in her line of vision so that she will “notice” me whenever she looked around. She was always amused by my antics and took me under her wings.
Along with Sister Chinwe Maduegbuna, Senior Prefect later to become Hon. Justice Chinwe Amechi, former President Anambra State Customary Court of Appeal, my cousins Sisters May Ikokwu and Oby Obienu, she ensured that I remained in school to study instead of running into the bush and turning into a monkey like I threatened to do if I was not taken away from that environment that was in the middle of nowhere and full of all sorts of creepy crawlies including clusters of “miserable creatures” and live snakes of all colours and sizes.
She was very brilliant and passed out in Grade 1 at the end of 1966. She was just beautiful.
I kept track of her throughout the Nigerian Civil War noting especially her wedding day on the 6th of December 1969. When my parents relocated us from Port Harcourt to Enugu after the Civil War, I renewed contact with her, seeking her out to visit when she had her first child, Ebele. I was excited to learn that my post war classmate in Queen’s School Enugu, Ifeyinwa Okoye (phenomenal Dr. Ify Nwakwesi) was her younger sister. Sister Chinwe was still beautiful.
She was already in her final year when I came in to read Laws at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus in the 1973/74 academic session. She and her friend, Sister Chinwe Amechi, graduated top of their Class with 2nd Class (Upper) Honours Degree in 1974.
Soon after she left for the United States of America to join her husband, Uncle Ossy. As fate would have it, Sister Chinwe returned to Nigeria just in time to attend the Nigeria Law School, Lagos with us in September 1977 and we were all called to Bar in July 1978 thus are members of the NLS Diamond Class of ’78! She was ever so beautiful.
Sister Chinwe started her career in Law as a Lecturer in the same Faculty of Law of the same University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus from where she had graduated in flying colours. She had a stint at private Law practice before her appointment as the Honourable Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Anambra State of Nigeria in 1994. As Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, she would be best remembered for the publication of the Revised Laws of Anambra State 1991. The then prevailing Laws of Eastern Nigeria 1963 and laws after them, had been revised up to 1991 but were never published until she literally had to move mountains to do so in 1996. These Revised Laws of Anambra State 1991 remained in use for more than 30 years until they were recently further revised by the Anambra State Law Revision Committee I co-chaired and are now published as part of Laws of Anambra State 2025.
She remained beautiful.
Appointed a Judge of the High Court of Anambra State in January 1997, Sister Chinwe was a typical example of a brilliant, impartial and wise Judge therefore her elevation to the Court of Appeal in July 2010 was expected. On the appellate bench, she discharged her duties creditably and her enduring legacy as a Judge is found in her numerous judgments published in various Law Reports in Nigeria. She retired meritoriously on her 70th Birthday on the 19th of January 2020. She was still so beautiful.
The Honourable Justice Chinwe Eugenia Iyizoba was a role model and a pace setter. Her home in Enugu, “The Oranges”, built in the 1980s was the first of its kind and after it, everyone sought to build a house like it or to rival it. She was the dutiful and beloved daughter of Sir FGN and Dame Monica Okoye, the devoted wife of late Chief Ossy Iyizoba, Ajie Nimo, Ebubedike Enugwu-Ukwu, Onyimonyi Onyibalu, the sweet mother of Ebele, Onuora, Ifeyinwa and late Ossy Junior, the doting grandmother of 12, the dependable sister and sister-in-law of her siblings and her husband’s siblings, the protective sister-in-law of her siblings’ spouses and significantly a loyal friend to each and every one of us. Sister Chinwe poured herself into whatever relationship she had with anyone. Ever so willing to help anyone who needed her intervention, she was just so lovely and peaceful. Everyone considered her as best friend. I call it “the Sister Chinwe magic” and her, “Everyone’s Best Friend”. She was simply beautiful.
Sister Chinwe saw beauty in everything and in everyone. She turned everything she touched into something beautiful and enduring. Oh, how grateful I am to God that she was able to be part of my Caribbean Birthday Cruise last August. She had a fabulous time especially for sharing the experience with her best friend, Sister Cordel Okafor. She proclaimed that she had become “a cruise advocate” and would encourage others to try it. She was beautiful inside out.
She didn’t have any of those debilitating geriatric health issues. Yes, her knees were aching excruciatingly. The first surgery on her right knee was very successful and she was very happy. I have wondered and I have asked what went wrong with the surgery on the left knee?
Sister Chinwe, why “naa”? I don’t have any logical answers.
Someone called me very early on 31st January 2026 to confirm the unpleasant news she received not knowing that I had not heard. She regretted making that call. Words still fail me.
Sister Chinwe’s last message to me was on Sunday, 25th of January 2026 when on receipt of that week’s Sunday Hymn “Praise to the Lord the Almighty the King of creation” (A&M 382 Tune: Praxis pietatis), she responded “Wonderful to wake up this Sunday morning to this superlative praise Song! Thanks for sharing my beloved Ijem”. Six days after, she was gone! She was blessed and beautiful.
I have come to only one conclusion and that is that God simply called home His angel loaned to mankind for 76 beautiful years. Sister Chinwe has finished her earthly race, she has kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for her a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give her at that day: and not to her only but unto all of them that love His appearing – 2 Timothy 4:7. The Holy Book in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 enjoins us to give thanks in everything. I thank God for her impactful and beautiful life.
May God who called her home at this time wrap all of us especially her beloved children, in His love and comfort and make us truly thankful for the beautiful times we shared with her on earth. We will smile again one beautiful day when by His grace we meet her in paradise.
The Honourable Justice Chinwe Eugenia Iyizoba, former Justice of the Court of Appeal, my beautiful Sister Chinwe, “supe m”: I will miss you. Requiescat in pace.
Hon. Justice Ijem Onwuamaegbu
Chief Judge emeritus Anambra State