Lagos State has ushered in a new legal year. It is the first under the new Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Phillips. It was marked with week-long activities, including religious services, a stakeholders’ summit and a dinner, reports JOSEPH JIBUEZE.
With a dinner last Friday, the week-long activities to mark the beginning of the new legal year in Lagos ended.
It was a night of fun as judges, magistrates and lawyers momentarily forgot about law and took to the dance floor with Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) to usher in the 2012/2013 legal year.
The week began with religious services, and a visit to the prisons by the Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, who released 233 detainees, and a stakeholders’ summit.
At the dinner, Fashola told the members of the bench to be “above suspicion like Caesar’s wife.”
Admitting that the Lagos High Court is the largest in Nigeria in terms of structure, size, number of judges and cases handled, which make the judges’ workload “daunting”, the judges, he said, are a gold fish with no hiding place.
Fashola said while Caesar’s wife may not have been guilty of infidelity, the fact that she was suspected of wrongdoing was enough for her husband, who had a very high sense of morality, to end associations with her, leading to a divorce.
Although the judges may experience “unfair perception,” he said it was in their hands to exhibit discipline in punctuality, in well-researched decisions and in the quality of their judgments.
“Can you truly be above suspicion when majority of your decisions are reversed on appeal?” the governor asked.
To him, much more is expected of the judges. “You are judges of the Lagos High Court, and Nigerians are looking to you for direction. Where you lead, others follow.”
Judges, he said, must see themselves as social engineers, promote public good and have greater participation in providing security for the people.
The governor said his administration was working towards a new Lagos. “We must match ahead for a new Lagos that is better than the past. Lagos will only prosper if we remain innovative,” Fashola said, noting that the dinner was an innovation in itself.
“Our actions will be remembered long after we have left. Let us do things that will usher in greater prosperity in the land,” he said.
Justice Phillips urged judges who lack computer skills to acquire them, as the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) would form the basis of her administration.
She said computers and laptops would be distributed to every member of the Bench. “I am serving notice on everybody now to get IT-compliant.
“It’s either you hop on the train or you hop off,” she said, adding that notice of meetings would be served via the internet. “You either hop on the train or be left behind.”
A website has been created for the state judiciary, she said, adding that all the judges now have official e-mail addresses. Magistrates will have theirs by year end as the judicial information systems are deployed.
Justice Phillips said new judges would be appointed, while the welfare of all staff would remain a priority. Judges chambers will be refurbished, she said.
Proposing a toast at the dinner, retired Supreme Court Justice George Oguntade said: “I am a living witness that the Lagos Judiciary is the best in Nigeria.”
Religious services
Religious services were held at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos and at the Central Mosque last Monday.
Fashola, speaking at the Central Mosque, appealed to judges and magistrates before whom people will be brought in the implementation of the new Lagos Traffic Law to dispense justice without fear or favour.
Archbishop of Ecclesiastic Province of Lagos, Anglican Communion, Rev Adebola Ademowo, said the alleged killers of Cynthia Osokogu must be brought to justice. The cleric urged the judges to be uncompromising, independent and fearless in the discharge of their duties.
Chief Imam of Lagos State Alhaji Akinola Ibrahim said a special prayer for the release of television presenter Alhaji Rasaq Gawat.
Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, Mr Onyekachi Ubani, said he expected the judges to show more consideration to lawyers.
“If a magistrate or judge knows he or she is not going to be around, there is nothing wrong in calling the lawyers ahead to inform them not to bother coming to court. We want to see a justice delivery system that is sensitive,” he said.
Release of detainees
“The release of prisoners is going to be a continuous exercise,” Justice Phillips said. Last Tuesday, she freed 233 awaiting trial inmates in both the Maximum and Medium Security Prisons in Kirikiri.
Speaking at the stakeholder’s summit, the Lagos Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ade Ipaye, allayed fears over possible rise in crime in the state with the release of 233 inmates.
Ipaye described as “barbaric” the practice of keeping suspects in prison while investigations were ongoing.
According to him, since everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law, depriving a man of his liberty “by locking him away when there has been no pronouncement of guilt” is not justifiable. It should be done away with, he said.
“It is the most effective decongestion effort that has taken place in a single day,” he said, adding that the freed persons can still be re-arrested if need be.
Stakeholders’ summit
Last Wednesday, Justice Phillips launched the High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules 2012 and the Family Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules 2012.
The High Court rules, however, are yet to become operational. The Chief Judge said “a lot” still needed to be done in terms of infrastructure and personnel to get them working.
A member of the review committee, Justice Habeeb Abiru, said Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is no longer optional, and there are sanctions for refusal to abide by the rules on ADR.
Another member, Justice Kazeem Alogba, said the new rules have closed gaps in the old one in terms of simplicity and practicability of some provisions, such as the written address being filed out of time.
For instance, he said if a lawyer files a written address, but does not appear in court to adopt it for some reason, the court would deem the address adopted under the new rules.
The judge said rules cannot work without the bar’s support. “We’re trying to de-emphasise litigation. Most cases in our courts are fought on ego basis. ‘I know I owe you, but I’ll make life difficult for you.’
“What will it benefit you to spend 10 years on a case? I don’t think it is as long as you keep a case in court that determines the financial reward or otherwise,” Alogba said.
The judges praised chairman of the review committee, Justice Opeyemi Oke, who they said worked very hard and galvanised others to ensure that the task was completed on schedule.
Meanwhile, after the religious services on Monday, journalists were disappointed that Justice Phillips could not address them. They waited for over an hour to interview her on her programmes for the new legal year and other judicial issues, but she was said to be busy attending to other guests and matters.
