One of Nigeria’s best known modern-day lawyers, Ziggy Azike, is dead. News Express learnt that he died in his Lagos base yesterday, Wednesday, January 6, 2021, after brief illness. He was aged 61 and was ‎Principal Counsel of ‎the law firm Adroit Lex & Co.

“He had prostrate cancer, which he had been managing before he suddenly took ill and died unexpectedly,” a source told News Express on Thursday morning.

Born on September 19, 1959 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the late Chief Chibuzo Nduwueze Ziggy Azike hailed from Okohia Osu-Owerre in Isiala Mbano L.G.A. of Imo State.

He studied Law at the University of Nigeria, graduating in 1982, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Law School where he earned a call to the Nigerian Bar in 1983.

Chibuzo Azike started his career with Union Bank of Nigeria, he was automatically offered employment by the bank in 1984 for his outstanding performance during his National Youth Service Programme (NYSC) programme.

He rose to become the sole Legal Adviser to the bank in charge of debt recovery department. He resigned in 1989 to go into private legal practice after a two month re-orientation at Onyeabo Obi & Co., setting up the law firm of CHIBUZO N. ZIGGY AZIKE & CO., which later became part of Adroit Lex, a consortium of legal firms, which, according to the company profile, “have subsumed their legacies into Adroit Lex & Co. in a synergetic consolidation to build a world class law firm with extensive capabilities and outreach.”

Azike was a member of the Body of Benchers, the Body of Legal Professionals of the highest distinction (Section 3 of the Legal Practitioners Act). He was elevated to the highest position any Legal Practitioner can attain as a LIFE BENCHER, thereby becoming a member of the INNER BAR,

A philanthropist and supporter of missionary work in several mission fields all over the world, Azike was married to Lady Chinyere Nneji Azike, and they were blessed with children.

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