The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Bold

  • ‘Christian teenagers must be bold to maximise potential’

    Wife of the Pastor-in-Charge of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Province 59, Pastor Funke AyinOluwa, has appealed to Christian teenagers to maximise their potentials by following through their dreams.

    She spoke last week at a five-day leadership course for teenagers by the province.

    AyinOluwa, who is the convener, said the course was designed to    to inspire young people to be bold, follow their dreams and maximize their future opportunities.

    She urged the teenagers to confidently set goals, take actions and achieve their life-long dreams with passion and enthusiasm.

    According to her: “Many times, our children have the problem of low esteem and we need to address this.

    ‘’On the part of our children we want them to see themselves the way God sees them.

    ‘’We are created to dominate, reign over every creature and every situation. Jesus has concluded the work on the cross.”

    Speaking further, she said: “For the church, we want to get them engaged as well as giving them better alternative than leaving them idle.

    ‘’We want them to be focused and giving them a better option as well as give them worthy role models to look up to”.

    The guest speaker, Pastor (Mrs.) Tinu Odugbemi of Lagos Province 64, warned participants that a relationship based on lust can be devastating.

    She called on them to draw closer to God in reading the word as well as being prayerful.

  • Sagay accuses Customs, NDDC, others of ‘bold and brazen corruption’

    Sagay accuses Customs, NDDC, others of ‘bold and brazen corruption’

    Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) Chairman Itse Sagay (SAN) yesterday accused the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) of corruption and “brazen impunity”.

    He said the “recklessness” with which public officers spend public funds was “insensitive to the point of insanity”.

    “Yes, I mean that. The level of insensitivity has become pathological,” Prof. Sagay said.

    He spoke in Abuja at the National Dialogue on Corruption, organised by the Office of the Vice President in collaboration with PACAC.

    On how pervasive graft has become, Sagay said: “Corruption is omnipresent in Nigeria. High and low office holders, public and private sectors, the executive, legislative and judicial sectors, immigration, police, the civil service, everywhere.

    “What is extremely disturbing is the fact that people’s attitude to corruption has hardened. There is no longer any fear of consequences.

    “Bribe is demanded brazenly with a sense of entitlement. So too has insensitivity to misuse, abuse and waste our common patrimony, even in these lean times.”

    He said in the face of financial drought and famine, the National Assembly bought cars worth N30million each for oversight functions.

    “The NDDC, which is the other name for uncompleted projects, has just bought over 70 cars. About eight of them are super Lexus Jeeps costing N78million each,” he said.

    Sagay said the money could have been spent on infrastructure, housing, schools and hospitals.

    He said it amounted to shedding crocodile tears for the NDDC management to complain of lack of funds for projects.

    He said Customs had completely ignored the fight against corruption, operating as if it is not in Nigeria.

    Sagay said last December, his cousin who was relocating to Nigeria from the United States after 26 years paid fraudulent duties for household goods.

    “Bribe was demanded at every stage of the obstacle race called custom clearance, involving long table, short table and other ingenious instruments of extortion,” he said.

    For instance, he said his cousin paid N1.2million for “approval of personal effects”, and paid for physical examination of items because the scanner was not working, among others.

    Sagay said the huge recoveries being made by the Federal Government from former government officials showed that the “orgy of monumental looting continues”.

    “We have to ask ourselves what the problem really is. We are definitely overwhelmed by an epidemic of kleptomania. But do we have a collective psychiatric problem?

    “Why would a person loot what he cannot spend in 10 life times while exposing the rest of the population to misery, hunger, poverty, wretchedness, and even death,” Sagay said.

    He slammed judges for violating the Administration of Criminal Justice Act which provides that ruling on preliminary objections shall be made at the time of delivery of judgment.

    “In spite of these clear provisions, some judges are still granting adjournments running into months and, worse still, will adjourn their cases to give a ruling on a preliminary objection instead of giving the ruling at the same time as the judgment on the substantive criminal matter.

    “What is more, contrary to Section 306, which provides that an application for stay of proceedings in respect of a criminal matter shall not be entertained, some courts still adjourn in order to await the outcome of an interlocutory appeal.

    “All this is illegal and strictly constitute acts of misconduct on the part of the judge. The outcome of all this is that we have over 100 high profile cases not going nowhere,” he said.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki, represented by Senator Chukwuka Utasi, faulted Sagay’s comments on the National Assembly.

    He said it would be “counter productive” to “demonise” others.

    “It does not help in confidence building within government and across the civil population when institutions of state are demonised  to put a shine on others,” he said.

  • REMY BAGGINS: I’m bold to say what I think

    REMY BAGGINS: I’m bold to say what I think

    Twenty-year-old music producer, singer and rapper Uremisan Solo-Edema, also known as Remy Baggins, is bringing a fresh vibe into the Nigerian music industry. The artiste who recently dropped an album, Remy Baggins VIV, tells JOE AGBRO JR. his beginning, the struggles and how he believes the future is sweet.

    On a normal day, Uremisan Solo-Edema is a 20-year-old 400 level Electrical Engineering student of the University of Lagos, Akoka. But when he assumes the personae of Remy Baggins, the first and only boy in a family of three children becomes an eccentric recording artiste, instrumentalist and producer.

    “I’m just bold to say what I want to say or have been thinking about in my head,” said the bespectacled Remy whose gentle looks contrast with his straight-to-your face and no-holds barred lyrics.

    “I think some very nasty thoughts and I’m proud to say them out.”

    And on his debut album, Remy Baggins VIV, those nasty thoughts are portrayed in the lyrics of some of his songs like Hit List, Shades of Purple, Dreadful Tale which contains some x-rated words. Using Remy Baggins as his alter ego, he speaks his mind on various issues – fast life, sex and debauchery – that plague many young people. Like having sex with his cousin as well as lusting over female superstars like Tiwa Savage, Simi and Seyi Shay.

    “For the sake of creativity, I say what is on my mind without limiting anything.”

    But regarding some of the frolicking with stars like Omotola Jalade, Seyi Shay and Simi which he has sung about, Remy Baggins is sure he’ll not let any opportunity slide.

    “If the chances present themselves, I will do it,” he says, laughing. “But I just want to make it in this music. I’m not chasing those kinds of things right now.”

    Other songs on the album include a gospel-inclined track, Alleluia, Real, Let Me Tell You, KLFSHII, Kiss Me and Decipher.

    Becoming Remy Baggins

    Remy’s journey into music began at age four. And in 2001, his uncle bought him a keyboard and he started playing beats on it. Discovering he could sing, he sang along to the beats. “I use to write some songs but I never took music seriously until 2010,” he said. And it was the song, Not Afraid, by Eminem, that flipped Remy to pursue his vision – music.

    As a student of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Ikorodu, Lagos, he entertained his fellow students during variety shows held after school exams.

    “There was this song I wrote during that term,” Remy said.

    “I played the keyboard. As I was singing, people liked it. All the reviews were positive. I sang, I rapped. I continued doing more. That same year, I was also in my church (Archbishop Vining Memorial Church, Ikeja, Lagos) band as an instrumentalist. Through that, I got to learn about arranging music and composition. Then, somebody introduced me to production software, FL Studio. I got hold of it and I started making beats on my mum’s laptop.”

    In 2014, he decided on doing a compilation and started making beats. It was then he made beats for two songs, Alleluia and Decipher. But the journey has not been entirely rosy. On March 14, 2015, he and a friend whose birthday was on that day were robbed around Ikeja, losing his phone and laptop.

    “I lost all my beats since 2010,” Remy said. “Then, that same week, my external hard drive crashed.”

    Following the robbery, one of his friends started making fun of his height, saying were Remy taller, robbers wouldn’t have attacked him. The friend called him Baggins, referring to the short characters in the movie, Lords of the Ring. That night, he changed his name on BBM to Remy Baggins. And when his was time to release his EP, one of his roommates still played on Remy’s five feet four inches height, this time, turning it to VIV, its equivalent in roman numerals.

    From Engineering to music

    Combining studying Electrical Engineering with making music is a sacrifice Remi has endured. “For a time, I dropped music for more than eight months because I wanted to focus on school. But that department is one tough department. That was the year they (the department) decided to show me pepper. I said, let me start my music again.”

    But does he see himself practicing engineering?

    “I do not,” Remy answers curtly.

    “Because at the beginning of the engineering itself, I was not the one that chose it. I do not want to be an engineer. I was just confused. When I finished secondary school, I didn’t exactly know what to do. My choice was architecture but they (his parents) said no, go for engineering. Engineering is better. You’ll find jobs. So, I said, why not?”

    While his parents are aware of the development, they do not support his decision.

    “There is very serious quarrel in that house right now about music,” Remy said. “I just see it as inspiration that, one day, things will get better.”

    But he says he has fans in his two sisters and believes his father secretly loves what he is doing.

    In his second year in the university, Remy decided to have a home studio. To get started, Remy stopped attending his family church and started playing instruments in other churches to earn money and doing other studio jobs. Once the home studio berthed, it became the spot where Uremisan switched to Remy Baggins, working in the wee hours to produce music for the likes of Nafeesa, Dami Oniru and others including himself, before waking up to continue his ‘normal life.’

    Last year, Remy joined Chase Music and his label mates include Alternative/Highlife singer Jinmi Abduls and Dami Oniru, among others. Also a prolific producer, he has produced songs for a lot of musicians and he is not ready to stop any moment.

    And while the Nigerian music scene is very competitive, he feels confident about success.

    “I see myself breaking in one way or the other because I have too much to offer,” said Remy who confesses to love Reminisce’s music. “You have to admit that my style is very different from other people’s.

    “By January, I should comfortably say I have a lot of material to be considered albums ready, because to plan a release is another thing entirely.”

    And while he is garnering fans, Remy is yet to enjoy trappings of stardom. In fact, he says he has been at a place where people were talking about how they loved his songs and he was present.

    “My room mates, my friends, they are people that tell me, ‘guy, all these ones you’re doing, you’re still a dead guy. They keep me in check.”

    The fact that Remy doesn’t blow his trumpets so loud also ensures some people know his songs but can’t identify the musician behind it.

    On his website is a poem that focuses on his eclectic being and outlook.

    “This is a journey of self-discovery,” Remy writes about his musical odyssey. “And VIV is just the first step. In this body of work, you’ll find the raw and uncut versions of me.”

  • Let’s strike a bold new economic direction

    The Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics recently informed us that 60.9% of Nigerians live in ‘absolute poverty’, and that more of us are daily falling into that category. One of our former presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo, has warned repeatedly that youth unemployment in our country is over 70%, stating that it is a major factor of our poverty and that Nigeria, for this reason, is sitting on a time bomb. Most Nigerians don’t understand the enormous weight that youth unemployment means. Our youths (aged 17 to 38) constitute the overwhelming majority of our population. Some statisticians say that people of this age bracket constitute as much as over 60% of our population. But they are not merely the majority amongst us, they are also the naturally strongest, most dynamic and most capable of production. They produce and nurse most of our babies and therefore have an enormous impact on our national character. They are the most agile, most inquisitive, most inventive and most venturesome section of our population. When we say that 70% of them are unemployed, we are saying something of tremendous importance. We are saying that we are losing the productive contribution of the largest, strongest, most dynamic and most productive section of our population. Rather than receiving production from them, we are having to provide for them from the little that the rest of us are able to produce. That is a major reason why more and more of us are falling into abject poverty. Massive youth unemployment is not something we should even think of living with. It is too dangerous. For instance it is not only robbing us of productivity, it is also plunging our society into crime. Denied productive employment, the agile hands and legs of our youth are producing aberrant behaviour in all sorts of fearful directions. As a result, informed observers classify Nigeria as one of the most unsafe places in the world in peacetime.

    For decades, the truth of our existence as a country has been hidden from us (especially from the leaders and rulers of the nation) by the large revenues from crude oil. Our federal rulers could look at the endless seas of cash brought in by the rents and royalties of crude oil and delude themselves that we are a rich country. Our state governors and local government managers could go to Abuja and return with fat cheques and also deceive themselves that we are a rich country. Upon that whole edifice of self-deception, they proceeded to build a gigantic culture of public corruption. But now, the oil bonanza seems to be vanishing. Our self- deception is about to come to a crashing halt. We are obviously about to confront some very unpleasant truths as a nation. It is time for us to rush back to our youths – the most productive part of our economy- and call upon them to help. A bold new direction is urgently called for in our economy.

    Fortunately at this critical moment, we have a president who has promised change and has declared war on the culture of public corruption. It is therefore greatly welcome that President Muhammadu Buhari, in his first budget, is promising major steps towards youth development in order to empower and employ our youths. We must pray that he is able to push it as fast and as far as the situation demands. While he and his men are putting together the elements of the programme on youth development, I would like to offer him the suggestion that he should look at what Singapore did between 1965 and 1975. By 1965 Singapore was a desperately poor province of the Federation of Malaysia. It had no resources in land, forests, minerals, or even soft water. It was riddled with violent, corrupt and riotous politics. Almost all its youths were unemployed and unemployable. Crime was rampant. To do business at all, business owners usually had to surrender to extortion and make regular secret payments to criminal gangs. Masses of youths frequently rioted in the streets and the federal government regularly deployed security forces there to tackle the riots. One huge riot in 1965 went on for three months! As a result of this constant trouble, the federal prime minister proposed at the parliament that Singapore be expelled from the federation. Parliament overwhelmingly approved and Singapore suddenly found itself a separate country without any preparation. No country can be poorer than that. The leading Singaporean politician, a lawyer named Lee Kuan Yew, wept as he made the devastating announcement to his country. “For me and for Singapore”, he sobbed over the radio, “this is a day of anguish”.

    Yet, by 1975, 10 years later, Singapore had become one of the most successful economies in the world.  By 1976 when I visited Singapore, most of the world was already celebrating Singapore as “the Asian Success Model”. So how did Singapore do it? The central piece in their programme of development was to focus on the youth and to call them out to work. But first as preliminary, all the politicians agreed to commit to a responsible, cautious and orderly politics. As the country’s partisan and inter-ethnic politics simmered down, the youth riots gradually waned too. Then the government and leaders agreed on a bold new agenda to make the youths employable. Various institutions were created to teach modern job skills. Some businesses were licensed to teach job skills in their premises under government supervision.  All of the training was accompanied by very serious programmes of work ethics. To prepare the younger children for the system, very serious effort was put into improving education at the primary and secondary levels. Within years, Singapore’s workers had become known worldwide as skilled workers and highly dependable employees. As a result, businesses hurried to establish branches in Singapore and investors rushed there. Singapore’s people themselves then developed confidence to start businesses. By and by, a strong programme of infrastructural development followed. Singapore has continued to prosper. Its workmen are proud in their skills and in their efficiency and high work ethics. They are known to always seek to improve their service in all directions. Singapore’s educational system is now widely regarded as one of the best in the world. In fact, in education, this little country has much to teach the world, including even the giant, United States of America.

    In short, Nigeria’s youth development programme must focus on a sound combination of job and entrepreneurial skills and work ethics amongst our youths. It is not enough for a young, agile, intelligent and creative person to have good job skills, it is also critically important that he should be loyal to the success of his employers. A great deal of unemployment among our youth is a result of a lack of modern job skills. Even the job opportunities that are available struggle to find skilled workers. For instance our cities are expanding tremendously and that means a lot of jobs in the building trade. Sadly, it is well known that builders these days are having to recruit workmen from other countries.  A foreign company that won a contract to clean and plumb ships in the Apapa ports just could not find suitable Nigerian plumbers and had to recruit low level plumbers from their own country in Europe. It is also well known that there is a myth in Nigeria and abroad, that Nigerian workers are too disloyal to be employed. Of course the myth is unfair to a lot of our youth, but that’s what myths do – they include the good with the bad. Our youths desperately and urgently need a massive national programme of job and entrepreneurial skills and work ethics. We are well able to turn our economy around in just a few years. One must add of course is the promoter of this programme, each state must be used as the development unit in it and the state authorities empowered for that role. I hope President Buhari’s people are reading this. We must all wish them good success.

  • ‘Judges must be bold, confident’

    ‘Judges must be bold, confident’

    What is your assessment of the judiciary in 2014?

    I believe that the judiciary has always performed well and will continue to perform well. The judiciary itself knows when there has been an outside interference, but where I was saddened was where the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) markedly washed the dirty linen of the judiciary in the public. It shouldn’t be done like that because it affected the public perception of the institution. If there is a bad apple in a basket, you remove the bad apple quietly, you don’t empty the basket on the floor and start to push them around, saying which one is bad. No. You gently remove the one that you believe should not be there and take it out. It is a discreet thing.

    If you are talking of extra-judicial, legal influence, is it only in this country? It goes on around the world. There is no government that does not wish to put its influence on the court. In the United States (US) election when Al Gore was  contesting for the presidency, you could see the Supreme Court divided along party lines and Al Gore lost. So why are we making so much noise here?

     

    Are you saying that the judiciary should be involved in party politics?

    No, that is not what I am saying. In America, the President will always appoint to the Supreme Court a candidate whose temperament is close to that of his party’s manifesto.  So, Obama appointed a woman to the Supreme Court, whose temperament was more that of a Democrat and not of a Republican.  And a Republican President would appoint somebody whose temperament is that of a Republican and not of a Democrat. What I am bringing out is that there is nowhere there is not some influence, but that doesn’t mean that we should, here in Nigeria, take out our judges, hold them up and dangle them out and say: ‘Hey, this is a corrupt judge.’ It affects the institution itself.

     

    What was your journey to the bench like?

    My journey to the bench was mono-dimensional. I went into practice and I stayed in practice for over 20 years before moving to the bench. Maybe I overstayed in practice, but my journey to the bench was directly that of a legal practitioner growing from the Bar and stepping up into the Bench. But it is to be noted that a lot of the experience that I had were from the late Chief S.O. Moroundiya, a man from Ibadan, whose chambers was then located at  Ikeja. I was with him for several years and there, I think, I cut my teeth in practice. He was a man of many parts and I can say that I learnt a great deal from him.

     

    Your years on the bench, what was the experience like ?

    I was appointed as a judge in January 2004, sworn in as judge of the High Court of Lagos State on May 2004. I had a period of 10 years on the bench because the law says I must retire at 65, but most of the time I spent on the bench was at the Badagry Division of the High Court. On the formation of the Badagry Division, I was the first judge to sit there and I was the only judge in that division for six years. I was involved in general civil litigation, which means that anything from divorce to land matters, to kingship disputes to monetary, indebtedness to fundamental human rights. It was such a cocktail of work and it brought out everything I had learnt from the Bar. But for the time that I was there, I think I appreciated being in Badagry. It was a most enjoyable experience. But I must say that I spent six years there, whereas, ordinarily, a judge should be at a particular place only for a period of three years.

     

    What made your case peculiar?

    It was the Chief Judge at the time. It was just the attitude that ‘we have sent him there, we can forget about that place’. It was an ignored court.  Some of the running of the court was from my own pocket. The authorities, as it were, in Lagos then did not care about looking after the judge, who was there and the attitude of judges was that it was like sending someone to Siberia. But, of course, if you have the right attitude of mind, Siberia can be an enjoyable place. I enjoyed myself there, but I should not have been there for that long.

     

    While in Badagry, what attempts did you make  to upgrade the division?

    By the time I was leaving, another Chief Judge had come in and decided that things must change and in the course of her time she started seeing to the upgrading of the court in Badagry. She started seeing to providing accommodation for a judge, who would be sitting in Badagry. When I was there, I was using my own money to pay for my accommodation.

     

    When was your most challenging period on the Bench?

    Well, when a judge is newly appointed that initial stage is challenging because it is a fresh perception of the work. So, it is a different mindset. You have to get used to the judiciary,  you have to get used to your being the point of concentration and you have to get used to the fact that so much is expected from you because so much has been given to you.  So, that in itself is a challenge. And I think that as you go along because of the various cases that come to you, it is not a question of dealing with pen and paper. You are dealing with human lives and activities. And whatever you do, when you give a judgment, the consequence will affect so many people.

    I remember a land matter where the people on both sides, one traditional ruler was claiming that the vast area of land was under his sovereignty, the other people were saying no, ‘we are not under your sovereignty; we stand on our own’. Whichever way that judgment was to go, it would affect the lives of so many people because so many had built houses on the land and now you might have to change who the ownership is and who they owe their right to stay on the land to. If you change that, it means they have no land at all as it happened in the case of the Onitire and Ojora. So when you face these things and you are writing your judgment, you take double care, you become cautious. Am I doing what is right? And at the end of the day when the conscience of the judge allays his fears and he follows the law, he is able to do justice. He is comfortable that he has done justice, whichever way it goes. The fact that there is an appeal on it is neither here nor there for him. That is a different issue, but he would have done what he ought to have done.

     

    Which case did you find most challenging?

    I think there was no case that did not have its challenges. When you are affecting the lives of so many people, you are conscious that this thing has its consequences; you are extra careful.

     

    We often heard of corrupt judges. Was there ever a time that you were tempted by litigants during your time on the bench?

    No matter how much the lifestyle of a judge tends to shield the judge from litigants, litigants would always come. People will always find a way or the other. But it is for the judge to use his discretion.

     

    From your experience, how do you think judges can be shielded from corrupt practices?

    Well, my experience is limited to Lagos State and I think despite the fact that Lagos is a highly social environment, the judges have been able to shield themselves and even if you meet a litigant, you can just easily walk away when he starts discussing his case.

     

    How was your normal day as a judge like?

    I think it was punitive. Each judge would have his own style of how the day goes for him. I would wake up at 3 ‘O’ clock in the morning and I would go to my study, read or write. I find the morning very nice time to read, I absorb quicker. Then by 8.30 or 9am, I would be on the way to court.  I would sit till 2pm, sometimes 4pm or 5pm. And after the day’s sitting, I would sit down in the chambers and relax a little, and then go home.  At home, I would relax more, have my dinner and return to my study. That is basically the life of a judge.

     

    Are the remuneration and welfare package of a judge commensurate with his job ?

    To say it is adequate or inadequate, you would want to compare it with another set of people and that is the difficulty about saying whether it is adequate or not.  But I think the welfare package of a sitting judge has to be improved and I believe that the way and manner a judge would go into retirement has to be improved. I think we have to look at other jurisdictions in Africa, which will show that we are not enjoying the best.

     

    How did you relax as a judge?

    If you want to enjoy Law as a profession, the practice as well as being on  the bench, you cannot afford not to have reading as a hobby. Reading must be your habit. And when reading is your habit, you find that you can drop your file and pick up some other book that is non-law. Equally, the television is there, but when I was on the bench I had the benefit of two friends who are medical doctors, one Dr. Omotayo and Prof. Atoyebi and once a week, I would join them at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Staff Club, where everybody else is doctor. So, the danger of somebody mentioning a case is very remote. The danger of my offending somebody, who has a case in my court is very remote. So, I joined them there and relaxed. Also, on Tuesday evenings, I played Table Tennis at the Ikoyi Club. I am a member of that club.

     

    Looking at the recent desecration of the judiciary in Ekiti State, would you say judges are safe ?

    There is hardly any security provided for judges in Nigeria today. It is next to nil and it shouldn’t be. As to what happened in Ekiti, I have given my own impression and it’s unfortunate that what I said was not followed. If it had been followed, a lot of things would be set right in the judiciary today.

     

    What was your reaction to the incident?

    At that time, I said the Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC) should shut down the judiciary in Ekiti State. If she had done so at that time, they would have found that there is a political quagmire and they would have had to address the issue of the judiciary and the safety of judges. Because the Constitution provides that it is only the Chief Judge of a state that can swear in an incoming governor.  And it was the Chief Judge, who was slapped, that now went to shake hands and swear in the man who…, well, I should not say much.

     

    So what would you say is the fate of the judiciary in the hands of politicians?

    The country itself has to be wary as to the institution of the judiciary. The judiciary is the last hope of the nation. After they have done all their nonsense, they now bring themselves to the judiciary. It is comforting that we have people in the hierarchy of the judiciary who have insisted that the it must protect itself from the politicians and the general trend of affairs in the country. The judiciary must protect itself. It must not allow itself to be fiddled with.

     

    How do you see the mode of appointment of judges in Nigeria?

    There is a wrong in the manner we appoint judges. When you say merit, it comprises of a series of elements. Merit is broad and it is fluid and it is not a static and hard-defined thing. It contains human elements. Merit includes so many things that we will call long-leg. The  most important is that the person, who is appointed should be able to live up to the responsibility of that appointment. That is what we should be looking for. And falling short of living up to that responsibility, he should be able to say I will leave the office. So, I am satisfied with the way it is now.

     

    What have you missed since your retirement?

    Before the date of my retirement, I had wound down mentally from the work. My frame of mind was that the work was coming to an end. But, as of today, I do miss the camaraderie with my colleagues. When I joined the bench, I think judges in Lagos State at that time were somewhat stiff to one another.  But along the line we started going on retreats. We were spending a week to 10 days out of the country, on another location, going through some legal matters and also, sharing jokes with ourselves. It has engendered a comradeship within the judiciary and I think it has been good for the Bench. So, on that note I have missed my colleagues.

     

    Looking back, do you have any regrets on the bench?

    I don’t think I have any regrets. Maybe some one or two things I could have done better, yes, but I have no regrets.

     

    There is the notion that there is a decline in the quality of the Bar, having spent over 20 years before moving to the Bench, what is your take on this?

    Yes, there is no doubt that the quality of legal practitioners in the country is on the decline. There is no doubt that the Body of Benchers, which is responsible for calling lawyers to the Bar is not doing its job. If you look at the accountancy profession, they have insisted on minimising the number of people coming into that profession so that they could look after the standard. The standard has been eroded in the legal profession. English is the tool of the lawyer. There are so many untutored chambers. I don’t know whether it is error or innovation. They present processes in court attempting to make innovations and Law is not a profession that gives room for innovations. It a very staid profession and on the Bench I had to admit to lawyers that look, I am an old school and the legal profession is about being old school. It is a very conservative profession, but the Body of Benchers are the people who would see to the number of lawyers being admitted into the profession. I would insist that 1,000 lawyers in a year are too many for Nigeria. In this wise, I would also point fingers at the National Universities Commission (NUC). So, what is the NUC doing about that? What is the Body of Benchers doing about that? When you are putting 2,000, 3,000 lawyers into the system every year, it is gross error and that is why today you have lawyers, who are earning a salary of N20,000, something less than what a clerk is being paid. I think those people, who have been given this responsibility, those who have accepted to take those responsibilities, should look again at what they are doing. I do not think they are doing the country a favour.

     

    What do you think INEC should  do about the N21 billion raised as campaign fund for President Jonathan?

    I am reluctant to go into those areas that deal with politicians. I would just leave them to do whatever they want to do. They are above the law.

     

    But it is said that nobody is above the law. Are you referring to what happened in Ekiti where the matter that was supposed to go on could not go on?

    The matter is still in court. It is the question of whether the Chief Judge is worth his judgeship or not. Somebody has filed a case except if the CJ does not wish to proceed with that case and that would be the value of his judgeship.

     

    What about immunity clause? The governor now enjoys immunity clause.

    There is no immunity in a pre-election matter. It’s not a matter for the election tribunal, it is a pre-election matter; a matter that actually affected what is supposed to be before the election, except that you are saying that it is time-barred.

     

    What should be put in place to provide a conducive environment for judges who would preside over election petitions  after the 2015 general elections?

    I think when the time comes the Chief Judge, who is responsible for that would address the issue.

     

    What changes would you like to see in the judiciary in the new year?

    I’d like to see bolder judges; self-confident, grand boldness. That is what I’d like to see – the boldness of a judge to say it as it really should be.

     

    Delayed justice has continued to be an albatross of the judiciary. Given  your experience as a judge, how best do you think this can be addressed?

    The country grew between the end of the civil war, that is between 1980 and 2000. The country grew in a fantastic way, at a fantastic rate, but our public institutions have not been allowed to grow in a sustainable manner anywhere near that rate and that is a major problem. It is not for the inability of judges, it is not for lack of attention to duty on the part of the judges. It is that these processes have not been there. When I came into the law profession early 80s, in the High Court of Lagos State, Igbosere in January they would start LD/1/the number of that year and by the time you reach December, may be you are at LD/900+/the number of that year, that means that in that year, there were less than 1,000 cases filed. But today, by March they have filed 1,000 already. So, that is the differential that we are talking about. It takes one quarter of the time that it took before for people to file that number of cases. Litigation has grown in a monstrous way.

     

    Can we take that to mean that people are getting more enlightened as to their rights?

    The truth is, people are as enlightened as they are frivolous as to their rights. There are some frivolous cases they file too and that is why they have created the Multi-Door Court House and people are being encouraged to go for the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Maybe this would allow us to do things otherwise.

     

    What do you have to say about judges who come late and sit late?

    It is not a matter of how early you sit, it is that you are giving results. If you look outside our jurisdiction, you’d see that the work we do is just too much. I have visited the English court sitting to see how they mark the day. On the first day of the week, that is Monday, the judge merely previews the cases he is going to do for the rest of the week. That is all he does on a Monday and he doesn’t take any work home; he doesn’t have to wake up at 3am and in spite of retirement, I am still waking up at 3am because the body is used to it.

     

    Why do people involved in high profile cases, including those charged with criminal offences, always go scot-free?

    In America, we all know what happened in the case of Jim Brown, a very well known sportsman, who was accused of killing his wife, who had been unfaithful to him. He got some of the best defence lawyers around in America and he was able to go scot-free. So, many people were dissatisfied that he got free, but he got free because he got competent lawyers. Now, if you look at the Criminal Law practice, you find that most of the top lawyers are not there. In fact, no lawyer premises his practice on Criminal Law practice, otherwise, you are seen as a ‘charge and bail’ lawyer. So, the Criminal Law practice is left for those who just want to make ends meet. And your big men are now able to pay the top lawyers top money for them to sit down and analyse their case and put it to the court and if they are able to put it to the court strongly enough and they are successful, you cannot begrudge them.

     

    Does it mean that there are some loopholes in our laws?

    Is there anything man-made that is perfect?

    Do you support abolition of death sentence?

    I do not agree with it. While our institutions are failing, the prison as an institution is half-failing. When people now believe that they can get away easily with anything wrong that they do, what would happen? When they now say even that law is nothing, I will kill you and I will just get in touch with my uncle and I will get away with it, what will happen? There is general failure of the institutions and the prison system is not a guarantee for anything. I do not believe that we are ripe to take the death penalty out of our laws. The corollary to that is that we have to remind the governors that they voluntarily chose to take that position of the governor of a state and one of the duties of the governor of a state is to sign death warrants for people, who have been convicted and sentenced to be hanged. It is failure in their duty when they neglect to sign death warrants. It is part and parcel of the duties of a governor and it is a frustration of the order of the court when the governor does not sign death warrants. In Lagos State for example, I don’t think any death warrant has been signed in the last 10 to 12 years. It is a failure, it is a neglect of the lawful and valid order of the court when the governor fails to sign the death warrant when they have voluntarily chosen to be the governor. They should have asked what it involves and if you are going to have nightmares about signing death warrants, then don’t go near the seat. I was a criminal court judge and I convicted somebody, who had killed his wife and sentenced him to death, why couldn’t they do their duty too? We are not ripe for death sentence to be taken off our laws.

     

    What do you say about those who see you as a controversial judge?

    Controversial in what sense? Is there anything controversial about me?

     

    What is your  background like ?

    I am the eldest son of the late Israel Adebayo Ogunyade Adebajo, a businessman, philanthropist and first sponsor of the Stationery Stores Football Club. I went to school in various institutions in Nigeria as well as in England and I qualified as a lawyer at the Nigerian Law School in 1980.

     

     

  • Audacious, Bold & Crispy lights up Lagos

    LAGOS came to a standstill on Sunday, December 28, 2014, as the maiden edition of Wole Oni’s jazz show, Audacious, Bold & Crispy, took centre stage.

    Hosted by star actor, Joseph Benjamin and Monalisa Omorodion, the venue, Intercontinental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, was jam-packed with jazz aficionados, diplomats from various embassies and fun seekers. As early as 6 pm, the Red Carpet kicked-off with guests mingling with celebrities at the cocktail session.

    Guests on the Red Carpet include Sammy Okposo, Segun Arinze, Mercy Aigbe, Ayoola Shadare of Inspiro Productions, Elvina Ibru, Queen Aniya, Nike Ekundayo of Nike Art Gallery, Oprah Benson, the Yeye Oge of Lagos, Boma Ozobia, Ayo Adewale, Chairman, Amuwo LGA, Pastor Remi Morgan and Bola Mogaji, including representatives from Polo Club, Ikoyi and Yoruba Tennis Club, Ikoyi, to mention a few.

    Indeed, it was a night of fun and excitement, as artistes such as Yinka Davies, Gloria Ibru, Paul Praiz, Victor Ademofe, Tosin Martins and Sammie Okposo treated guests to an evening of undiluted jazz music, while Seyi Law delivered rib cracking jokes.

    At exactly 7pm, the show kicked-off when Wole Oni did a special piano performance of the National Anthem, after which Olumide Sobowale opened the show to a thunderous applause. Next to perform was Awe Joseph, who was followed by Victor Ademofe.

    One memorable moment of the evening was when veteran show promoter and boss of Praiseville, Muyiwa Majekodunmi, paid tribute to Wole Oni, describing him as a man with great vision and talent.

    “I met Wole Oni in 1993/84 through Ayo Solanke and the day I heard Wole Oni play the keyboard, I retired; his playing gave me a complex and I never had to touch the piano again. Let me state here that I did not make Wole Oni or Ayo Solanke, those guys made me.

    “Wole Oni plays effortlessly. He is hard-working and is humble. Despite the success, he has not lost his humility,” Majekodunmi said while addressing guests at the show.

    Sammy Okposo and his daughter, Alula, took the performance of the night to the next level when they performed a unique version of Amazing Grace.