Certainly, Ricky Tarfa, SAN, never bargained for this. As a matter of fact, YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine gathered that this must be one sad and ugly incident the top lawyer would have fervently prayed and fasted against. Just imagine being arrested, then detained and now being accused of working to allegedly subvert the course of justice by a senior lawyer like him! The thought alone tastes sour in the mouth. Yet that is one heavy cross that our respected Silk, like the Senior Advocates are addressed, is currently carrying.
Expectedly, shocked and angry Nigerians, especially on the social media, have been blasting the man, decorating him with all sorts of unpleasant names. Funsho Arogundade, a journalist with TheNews Magazine, said ‘I’m monumentally ashamed’. Another journalist who is now in the insurance sector, Victor Ganzallo, described it as ‘unbelievable!’ Adding:’In a sane clime, that admission alone is enough to make Mr. Tarfa lose his silk wig’.
Others want the SAN summoned before a Disciplinary Panel set up by the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, for ‘conduct unbecoming of a SAN, Senior Advocate of Nigeria…This is useless…The legal profession is in serious trouble’, they lamented.
Mr. Ricky Tarfa, it would be recalled, was arrested, detained and later arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for allegedly obstructing the free flow of justice. Accused specifically of giving N225,000 to Justice Mohammed Yunusa, who was in charge of a case he was pursuing, Tarfa said the money was for burial support and nothing more. Justice Yunusa had lost his father in law, Alhaji Audi Garba Damasa, many months back, and Tarfa is now claiming that the money was his own contribution for not being able to attend. A claim that most Nigerians don’t seem to agree with considering their outbursts since his reason was made public.
Born 54 years ago, Ricky Mustapha Tarfa, is a prince of Garikidi, in Gombi LGA of Adamawa State. From a notable family in his state, the likes of Late Air Marshal Ibrahim Alfa and ex-Governor, Col. Paul Tarfa, all came from there.
The first Senior Advocate from Adamawa State; the second SAN from the entire North East, he was even at a time Nigeria’s youngest SAN, which was well celebrated. A 1986 graduate of Law, from the University of Maidugri, he exited the school with a 2nd Class, Upper Division. He was also one of the two best students in Common Law.
Between 1987 and 1988, he underwent his NYSC at Olanihun Ajayi & Co, and in 1990 bagged his Master’s from UNILAG. He started his practice in Yola, the capital of Adamawa State, before later changing his base to Lagos.
Married to Rebecca, a Master’s degree holder in Business Administration, they have two children – Alma and Mabel. In love with the music of Mamman Chatta, Dan Kwairo, Haruna Uji, Dan Maraya Jos and King Sunny Ade, the 5’8 tall embattled lawyer who became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria at 38 and after applying over six times also used to visit Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s Shrine, on Pepple Street, Ikeja, Lagos.
Hitherto operating from Dolphin Estate in Ikoyi, Lagos, not too long ago, he moved his chambers to an ultra modern massive structure in Lekki. His head of chambers, John Odubela, served as a Commissioner under Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, during his first term. But he’s now back to his first love – Law.