Presented by
Prof. Benedict Binebai, VON, MSONTA, MNAI
Professor of Drama, Dramatic Theory and Criticism
Niger Delta University
Venue: CHIDA Event Centre
Solomon Lar Way, Utako District, Abuja
Many years ago, when the forest of Ogbe-Ijoh still whispered the secrets of the ancestors, a little boy of five ran out of the forest crying and pointing into its mysterious depths. The elders gathered around him. He told them that he had seen a strange man wearing a white, curled horsehair wig and a long, majestic black silk gown. Warriors were sent into the forest, but they returned empty-handed. The boy insisted and led them back. There, instead of a man, they found the mysterious wig and gown. When the warriors attempted to carry them away, they were electrocuted and fled. The elders concluded that the garment was some kind of strange god. Strangely, the little boy did not return with them. For years, the garments remained immovable. The chief priest invoked the gods for seven days and seven nights, but they would not yield. The elders eventually proclaimed that whoever could lift the wig and gown from the forest and bring them home would be celebrated as a hero.
Twenty years passed. The little boy became a young man, but the mystery of the Ogbe-Ijoh Forest remained with him. Then, upon a night wrapped in silence, when the forest itself seemed to hold its breath, he found himself within a great hall. Suddenly, a goddess in white robe appeared, stretching forth both hands—wisdom in the right and wealth in the left. In that strange assembly, he saw Justice Nikki Tobi, Justice F. F. Tabai, and Fedude Zimughan, figures of jurisprudential wisdom. As he followed Fedude Zimughan out of the hall, the vision dissolved like mist before the morning sun.
Later that night, the old wig and gown returned. The white wig glowed against the darkness, while the black gown moved as though stirred by an unseen wind. He reached for them; they vanished. He turned away; they returned. Three times they called, and three times he awoke before touching them. Then came the final night. From the depth of the Ogbe-Ijoh Forest, a voice whispered: “It is time.” At dawn, the little boy, now a man, emerged carrying the wig and gown. The people looked closely and discovered that the forest had surrendered not merely a garment, but a destiny. For there comes a season when destiny calls its chosen one by name; and when that hour arrives, neither darkness nor doubt, neither distance nor delay, can silence the voice of fate. He who enters the forest of knowledge with courage shall not return empty-handed; for beyond its shadows lie treasures that no thief can steal, no storm can scatter, and no grave can bury. And so, after twenty years of waiting, the mystery was unveiled. On 23 July 2026, that destiny acquired a name: Dr. Eric K. Omare, Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
Born on 7 January 1979, Eric Keme-Egolukumor Omare is a distinguished son of Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State. He was born into the Omare family to his late father, Gabriel Omare Oyimi, and his mother, Mrs Iwesi Omare. He was raised at Willikigbene Bomobulo, a sub-community in Ogbe-Ijoh, and in Warri, under the care of his maternal grandparents, the late Chief Ayakubobo Ogisi and his wife, Kilare Ayakubobo. His early life and upbringing instilled in him the resilience and determination that have continued to define his journey. True to his belief that “bad weather does not break the wings of a flying bird,” Eric overcame the delays and challenges of his early years to begin his formal education at Ewein Primary School, Ogbe-Ijoh, in 1988. He later proceeded to Ighobadu Primary School, Warri, where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate in 1992. Having completed his primary education in five years and emerged as the best pupil in his class, he proceeded to the College of Commerce, Warri, where he studied from 1993 to 1998.
The Eagle sees clearly and properly only when it flies higher and the courage to climb to greater heights is inside us. Eric Omare attended the University of Benin from the 1998/99 to 2003/04 academic sessions, where he obtained his LL.B with Second-Class Upper Honours in 2004. He proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Abuja, obtained his Barrister-at-Law with Second-Class Upper Honours, and was called to the Nigerian Bar on 7 November 2006. His quest for deeper knowledge took him across the Mediterranean Sea and Mediterranean Climate to the University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom, where he obtained an LL.M in Law and Sustainable Development, with emphasis on Environmental Law, in 2010. In June 2026, he crowned this academic journey with a PhD in Law from the University of Benin, specialising in Energy and Environmental Law.
His legal practice, spanning twenty years, has been marked by steady professional advancement.
He began as a Legal Officer with the Legal Aid Corps Zonal Office, Yenagoa, gaining experience in civil and criminal litigation. From 2007 to 2009, he practised with Fedude Zimughan & Company, developing expertise in oil and gas, environmental, maritime, commercial, community and electoral litigation. He subsequently joined J. E. Okodaso & Company, Warri, in 2010 and rose to become Head of Chambers. He later established E. K. Omare & Company, Legal Practitioners and Consultants, where he became Principal Counsel. He also served as Legal Adviser to Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc.
As an advocate, Omare has earned recognition for rigorous preparation, strategic reasoning and determined courtroom advocacy. His practice encompasses constitutional, electoral, oil and gas, environmental, commercial, maritime, criminal and community-related matters. A significant landmark in his career is Hon. George U. Timinimi & 9 others v. INEC (2023) 7 NWLR (Pt. 1882) 109, in which he served as Lead Counsel for the appellants and successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to set aside the concurrent decisions of the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal and order fresh delineation of the electoral wards and polling units in the Warri Federal Constituency.
His conception of law extends beyond professional fees and courtroom victories. Through the pro bono unit of E. K. Omare & Company, he has represented indigent persons who could not afford legal services. His interventions include William Omokaro v. The State (2025) LPELR-81202 (SC), Ashigor v. State (2024) LPELR-62937 (CA) and Festus Okoro v. The State, among others. His pro bono practice reflects a commitment to access to justice.
Omare is equally a lawyer-scholar. His LL.M and PhD reflect sustained intellectual engagement with oil and gas, environmental protection, sustainable development, human rights, community rights and the Niger Delta. He has published well-researched articles in university-based law journals. He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association and Associate Member of the International Dispute Resolution Institute (DRI), and has contributed to the development of younger members of the profession through mentorship and practical training.
Yet Eric Omare's story extends beyond the courtroom. He has been an important voice in the public life of the Niger Delta. His activism began in his university years and continued at the University of Aberdeen, where he served as Public Relations Officer of the Postgraduate Law Students Forum and founded the Niger Deltans in Diaspora Movement to draw international attention to the challenges confronting the region. His most prominent youth leadership assignment came through the Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide, where he first served as spokesman and later became President from 2014 to 2020.
He subsequently brought this experience into government, serving as Special Assistant on Youth and Community Development and later as Senior Special Assistant on Social Advocacy to the former Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa. Between 2015 and 2022, he participated in efforts to address youth and communal disturbances, particularly in oil-producing communities. His public career therefore represents a bridge between activism, law and practical governance.
It is against this record of legal practice, scholarship, advocacy, youth leadership and public engagement that his elevation to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria on 23 July 2026 must be understood. Alongside 67 other distinguished legal practitioners, he was elevated by the Legal Practitioners' Privileges Committee, chaired by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun, GCON.
The SAN distinction is the culmination of two decades of professional pilgrimage. It marks the transition of a lawyer who entered the profession in 2006 into the select company of advocates recognised for outstanding professional competence and contribution to the administration of justice. He is married to Dr. (Mrs.) Mary Ewoma Eric-Omare, a pharmacist, and their union is blessed with three children—two boys and a girl. He enjoys reading, travelling and watching football.
Eric Keme-Egolukumor Omare, SAN, is therefore more than a lawyer who has attained professional distinction. His chamber represents legal practice. His scholarship, an engagement with the future; and his public life, a bridge between law and society. He has travelled from the creeks and communities of his homeland through the institutions of Nigerian and British legal education into the demanding arena of national advocacy.
When learning becomes a man’s compass, circumstance ceases to be his map. And so, the ancient story of the Ogbe-Ijoh Forest finds its fitting conclusion. What warriors once could not lift, Eric K. Omare has lifted—not by physical strength, but through education, courage, discipline, advocacy and service. The white wig and black gown that once lay mysteriously in the forest have become symbols of a journey fulfilled. The boy who once stood before the elders pointing into the unknown has become the man standing before the nation wearing the insignia of the Inner Bar. He is an engaging practitioner of the theory of law and the law of theory; the practice of law and the law of practice. His juridical imagination transcends the mechanics of litigation to navigate complex questions of law with remarkable dexterity. He submerges convenience for what the Constitution demands.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, a humble beginning is not a sentence of limitation; it is often the first chapter of an extraordinary story. A book placed in the hands of a determined child is a seed planted in the garden of destiny. The river of knowledge does not flow towards the idle; it rewards those who bend down to drink. The forest may hide its treasures, but the patient seeker of knowledge will eventually find them. On behalf of The Chairman of this august occasion, a former Teacher, A lawyer, a great son and father of the Ijaw nation, who has the deepest passion for justice and social transformation, whose destiny accommodates the brilliant colours of history and heroism; whose vision, voices the high wind and high waves to calmness; who loves justice and whom justice loves and whose wisdom on the bench defeated the invincibility of prophets and warlocks, His Royal Majesty, King (Dr), Justice Francis Fedode Emomotimi Tabai, JSC (Retired), CON, Esuku the 1st, the Ebenanaowei of Tuomo Kingdom!
I present to you a lawyer whose legal victories received public accolade from his days as President of Ijaw Youth Council. A lawyer-scholar who leverages law and justice to create the world he wishes to see; whose sky is full of stars and whose waves carry him beyond the limits of light. a man who hears the voice of god in legal practice, one of the latest legal generals in the Largest African Country, South of the Sahara, who navigates the portion of the world where the sky drops on the sea, where the poetry of the golden waves of Ogbe- Ijoh kingdom, the bucolic home of His Royal Majesty, King Couple Mackson Oromoni, Monbene the 3rd Pere Ama-Okosu of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri kingdom, laps the shores with pure and pacific cadences.
Greatness is sometimes born in places the world considers small and silenced, waiting only for education and courage to give it a name. Keme-Egolukumor Omare possesses formidable forensic acuity, jurisprudential depth and doctrinal sophistication, bringing to advocacy an uncommon fusion of legal scholarship and courtroom strategy. His public engagement reflects a sophisticated understanding of the nexus between law, power, resource governance and communal rights. He is a jurisprudent in practice, a forensic strategist in court, an expressive, empirical, evaluative, embodied evidence based epistemic voyager in scholarship and an advocate whose legal consciousness is permanently interrogating the relationship between law, justice and society. He believes that the storms of life are merely the shadows where faith grows, he walked through fire and emerged refined like gold; a man whose tears watered the seeds of destiny. This celebration is the public harvest of decades of quiet labour.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I speak of no ordinary man, but of a rare son of the Ijaw nation; one of the youngest Ijaw Senior Advocates of Nigeria in the western Niger Delta, the first Senior Advocate of Nigeria from Ogbe-Ijoh, and among the distinguished Ijaw sons of the Warri Federal Constituency to attain this enviable height in the legal profession. Here stands a man whose journey is a testimony to the triumph of perseverance over delay, vision over adversity, and courage over circumstance. In one remarkable year, he achieved two towering milestones: the attainment of the Doctor of Philosophy in law and the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
Let me, therefore, fulfil the gracious mandate that has bestowed upon me the rare privilege of inviting us to encounter not merely a legal luminary, but a man whose life has become a living chapter in the unfolding history of law, scholarship and justice in Nigeria. Permit me, therefore, with profound honour and immense delight, to present before us a man whose name now resonates in the annals of law, scholarship and public service: Dr Eric Keme-Egolukumor Omare,
the newly minted Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
