Ifeyinwa Nasiah Okoye, a Senior Magistrate in the Anambra State Judiciary has shared insights on her journey as a lawyer and magistrate and the setback faced owing to being physically challenged.
The Senior Magistrate presiding over the Chief Magistrate Court, Neni shared her story in an interview with BBC Pidgin.
She recalled how she was stigmatized and abandoned by how former fiancé on the day of her wedding and the humiliation and embarrassment that occasioned on her as her family, friend and well-wishers were already on ground for the wedding celebration.
She told BBC Pidgin; “On my wedding day, the man I was supposed to get married to failed to show up because he suddenly realised I was with a disability. I was left alone, the guests, family members and well-wishers were all waiting for my husband-to-be all to no avail. He told people he suddenly realised he could not marry a physically challenged woman.”
According to her, today, she is happily married with three children and currently enjoys her role as a Senior Magistrate.
According to her, she sees the astonishment in the faces of most parties before her court because of her physical challenge and how they admire her for how she has built herself into relevance despite her challenge.
“Some appear surprised, others admire me for rising above my disability and they often use my story to challenge other disabled and even fit persons who are living below their potentials. So my life is a source of encouragement to them.”
In the interview, the noted that she studied law because it was what she always desired from childhood. She said before studying law, she studied sociology for four years, and instead of proceeding to NYSC, she went back to bag her law degree. She said her strong desire to study law at the time was because of her long-nursed dream to be a voice for physically challenged persons like herself and society’s downtrodden.
She berated that our society is generally insensitive to the plights of physically challenged persons and recalled being mocked during her University days and in the market.
She stated that her disdain for pity made her decide to become everything she desired to become. She recounted the great joy she felt when she was sworn-in as a Senior Magistrate. She said her joy was because all the things she conceived as a child were already becoming reality gradually and more importantly because she is the first physically challenged person to be sworn into the bench of the Anambra State Judiciary.
She further informed that there is nothing she cannot achieve henceforth making known her desire to aspire for the Supreme Court bench.
“There is nothing I cannot achieve. Is it the High Court or the Supreme Court, that is where I am aspiring for. I have looked through the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court and I have never seen a physically challenged person so I see myself as the first person that would get to that height, the first Supreme Court Justice moving with crutches.
