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  • Judges, lawyers decry non-use of labour law report

    Judges, lawyers decry non-use of labour law report

    Judges and senior lawyers have decried the poor reference to Nigeria Labour Law Report (NLLR) by lawyers, urging them to get acquainted with the report to further enhance jurisprudence.

    They make the call at the weekend during a colloquium on Employment law and practice in Nigeria, organised as part of activities marking the 50th birthday of the Publisher, NLLR, Enobong Etteh.

    It had as theme: Advancing the frontiers of Nigerian Law through Law reporting; Nigerian Labour Law Reports as a case study.

    At the event were Justices Habib Abiru of the Court of Appeal and Stephen Adah of the Rivers High Court; Justices of the National Industrial Court (NIC), Prof. James Agbadu-Fishim and Prof. Benedict Kanyip; a labour law guru, Prof. China Agomo; Health Law expert, Gani Adetola-Kaseem (SAN); James Ocholi (SAN) and Solomon Awomolo (SAN), among others.

    The stakeholders noted that the use of the NLLR among practitioners was below the average despite the fact that the publication has been in existence for a decade.

    They said there have been milestone and classical judgments delivered by the NIC and reported by the NLLR, but most lawyers, who are ignorant of the judgments, most times cite cases out of context.

    Kanyip expressed worries that despite abundant landmark decisions of the NIC, labour lawyers still based their arguments on decisions of the appellate and Supreme Courts.

    “The point I simply wish to make is that the utilisation of the Nigerian Labour Law Reports by lawyers has been generally less than satisfactory, especially for a court like the NIC, whose decisions are subject to minimal right of appeal.

    ”I have heard arguments of counsel regarding, for instance, Section 7 of the NIC Act, 2006, on the ambit of the court’s jurisdiction over issues relating to labour. The disturbing thing is that even when the National Industrial Court has made pronouncement on what the word labour means for the purpose of jurisdiction, counsel chose not to even refer to such a decision, they preferred to rely on the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal cases, even when these cases are of no relevance,” said Kanyip, who appealed to lawyers to get acquainted with the NLLR.

    He said the idea behind the NLLR was to fill the gap created by the lack of the NIC’s law report it stopped producing, adding that lawyers can only get to learn about the identity crisis in labour law by keeping abreast with recent developments.

    “There is a quiet revolution going on at the NIC since 1999 after the promulgation of the court as one of the courts of record … Irrespective of employers’ right to hire and fire, it is no longer globally fashionable to terminate an employment without a justifiable reason,” he said.

    Similarly, Agomo said law students were also liable, noting that despite the existence of the NLLR on the book shelve since 2004, most of her students do not know about it.

    She advocated the need for the chamber, Rochebas Solicitors, to set up strong resilient and aggressive marketing team that can cover the country, urging the publisher to encourage the students by subsidising the shelf price for them.

    Etteh said he had been excited by labour and employment related matters, noting that his first labour dispute case was a year after he was called to bar.

    “I was assigned a Labour Law Case in 1991. It excited me because I saw the opportunity of fighting for some employees of the Federal Ministry of Industries, who were wrongly retired from service. Again in 1993, I had to do a labour case with the firm of our late Sage, Chief Kehinde Sofola, (SAN). That case was reported as the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Nigerian Civil Service Union (2004) 1 NLLR (Part 3) 429.

    “That was a personal brief, which I brought to the firm because I had a personal decision not to hide any case file when my principal walked into my office. That case had two indelible impacts in my life. First, it made me fully understand the challenges facing industrial law practice in Nigeria and secondly, it eventually became the platform for building a great solicitor/client relationship with a trade union that has spanned over two decades.

    “By the turn of the second millennium, I began to feel the fire of conservative activism agitating my spirit I kept hearing, you must do something about the state of Employment Law Practice in Nigeria. The fire became unquenchable and by 2002, I had to ignite a quiet campaign for labour justice reforms in Nigeria. Ordinarily, I could have hit the press or media.

    “But I choose to do the activism the conservative way by sending a 17-page Memorandum for Reforms to the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Uwais, CJN (as he then was), GCON. The then CJN acted pronto on the memo and went to work on the recommendations.

    “I can tell you that 2002 Memo to the CJN triggered the current reforms in the labour justice sector. It was in furtherance of that quiet campaign that I jumped into the deep sea of law reporting. I have put my hand into the plough and there is no looking back.

    “I needed to bring labour law decisions to limelight. I needed to turn the focus of stakeholders to this forlorn area of practice. I needed to agitate the minds of the Bench and the Bar to ask what this gentlemen saw in an area of law erroneously viewed as narrow.

    “I needed to provoke legal and labour practitioners to join in the campaign for reforms. My wisdom was variously questioned by my friends. Even my state Attorney-General then, honestly advised me to expand the scope of the Law Report to secure its future.

    “But I was driven by vision and passion. I saw a day in Nigeria when the rights of employees and employers would be redefined. I saw a day when the right to hire and fire will not be without question. I saw a day when there would be an NIC in every state of Nigeria.

    “I saw a day when the doors of sovereignty will be opened for international best practice to influence the way Nigerian workers are being inhumanly treated in factories and construction companies.

    For that day to come, I needed to take a risk.

    “For that day to come, I needed to contribute my quota. Nigerian Labour Law Reports, a primary source of law in labour jurisprudence, was one of such risks. Don’t ask me how many tons of naira in millions we have sunk in to pursue this dream. Don’t ask me the sleepless nights with my gang of risk takers that we have put in. But in all, at 50, I feel a sense of fulfillment that the risk was worth taking.

  • ‘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.

     

     

  • Lagos judges rise to 57

    Lagos judges rise to 57

    Barely 27 days after four judges were sworn into the Lagos State High Court, three were sworn in last week, bringing to 57 the state’s judges, reports ADEBISI ONANUGA

    Three new judges have been sworn into the High Court of Lagos, bringing to 57, the number of judges in the state, made up of 41 women and 16 male judges.

    The new judges, two women and one man are the former Director, Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP), Olabisi Ogungbesan;  former Registrar of Titles, Adedayo Akintoye and a former Senior State Counsel, Obafemi Adamson.

    The state Chief Judge Justice Olufunmilayo Atilade admonished the new judges. “Your elevation to the high court bench is a call to service.  A vocation that demands your absolute commitment, dedication, honesty, loyalty and fairness at all time. Like every other judicial officer, yours is a sacred responsibility, a duty you owe to God and humanity.

    “Having come this far,  I have no doubt , the enormity of the task entrusted on you by this appointment, is without any ambiguity.‘’

    She continued: “I charge you, therefore, to live aboard board and to always conduct yourselves in accordance with the ethics of the profession. Let the oath of office which shall be administered unto you remain your guide as discharge your constitutional responsibilities. Not only must adhere strictly to the code of conduct of judicial officers as it is contained  in the schedule to the 1999 Constitution, you must also be morally upright and shun every act of corruption and all temptations that tend towards corrupt practices.

    “You must always endeavour to act in such manner as to inspire the hope and confidence of members of of the public in our judicial system.  Bearing in mind that the people are watching, and to whom much is given, much is expected. Let the fear of God be at the centre of your thoughts and activities always, acknowledging Him as the ultimate judge.’’

    Explained that the need to fill the vacancies at the High Court compelled the appointment of additional competent hands to serve in this capacity. She said this became necessary, taking into cognizance the peculiarity of the state; its vast human population and huge economic presence, which also reflected in the volume of litigations and cases filed on daily basis in various registries across the state.

    Expressing confidence in the new judges, she wished them well in their new assignments.

    Earlier, Governor Raji Fashola (SAN) also admonished the judges  to do justice to without fair or favour.

    He told the judges that as public property, they should “do justice only according to the law”.

    Pointing out that the world is  always changing, the governor counselled them to acquaint themselves with developments around them.

    “Your quest for knowledge must be unending. You must expose yourself to training locally and at international level to be able to deliver justice appropriately, he said.

    The governor reminded them that as members of the bench, there are things they can no longer do and thoughts they can no longer share with anybody.

    He pleaded for understanding from their families, friends and relations on their behalf when they do this.

    “A judge can get it wrong because a friend is involved,” he noted, reminding them that their duty as a judge  is to be fair at all times.

    The Attorney-General, Ade Ipaye, who introduced the new judges, said their appointment afforded the state to bring to the bench “a wealth of experience, scholarship, selfless service and rigorous work ethics”.

    He said these attributes imbued in the new judges would further boost the image and efficiency of the judiciary in the state.

    Ipaye said the judges, who were among the seven nominees whose names were initially sent to NJC,  merited the job.

    He assured the people of the state  that the new judges would give quality service like those before them.

    He said the NJC, having examined their qualifications, competence, experience and integrity, also found them worthy of the appointment.

    Ogungbesan graduated with LL.B   honours in 1982 from the University of London and was called to the Nigerian bar in July 1983. She worked in various capacities in the Ministry of Justice  of Bauchi, Oyo and Lagos states both in criminal prosecution and in defence of civil cases representing the government. In Lagos, Ogungbesan rose through the ranks from Principal State Counsel to become the DPP, the position she held till her new appointment. A thorough bred, disciplined and meticulous prosecutor, Ogungbesan has prosecuted and gained numerous convictions on behalf of the state government.

    Akintoye  obtained her LL.B from the University of Lagos in 1980 and was called to the bar in 1981. She worked briefly as a Legal Officer at Afribank Nigeria Plc in 1983 before joining the Lagos State Magistracy  in October 1985. She left the service to manage a legal practice in the United Kingdom in 1991. Justice Akintoye qualified as a Chartered Secretary and Administrator in London in 1988 before taking up an appointment at the Nigerian High Commission in London in October 2000, working directly with the High Commissioner. In 2002, she returned to legal practice in Lagos and joined the state Judiciary in 2005. He was appointed Deputy Registrar of Titles and rose to become the Registrar (an equivalent of Chief Magistrate 1), a position she held till her new appointment.

    As the Registrar of Titles, she effectively managed the computerisation of all land records held in the registry dating back to 1863. During her service in that department,  the Land Registry expanded to encompass a Mortgage Registry and an Acquisition/Excision Registry.

    Justice Adamson, on the other hand, graduated with a Bachelor of Law from the Ogun State University, Ago Iwoye in 1994 and was called to the bar in 1995. He began his career at Creeks & Shield Solicitors as a youth corps member. He was involved in many high-profile oil spillage cases, inspections and settlements.

    He also handled many criminal cases all of which were well defended. After his service year, he joined St. Francis Chambers, the law firm of the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Okey Wali (SAN).                                                                                                                                After the service year in Lagos, Justice Adamson practised with B.A. Shitta-Bey and Co. as an Associate and joined the service of the Lagos State government as a State Counsel in 2001. His first posting was to the Directorate of Citizens Right and was among the first set of mediators trained by the Department. He handled several mediations, human rights abuse, matrimonial cases, consumer protection, tenancy cases, most of which parties reached settlement.

    In 2002, he was seconded to the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission where he was assigned the responsibility of supervising the production of the Local Government  electioneering materials for the  Lagos and was issued two commendation letters for his participation in the successful election of 2004 and also for representing the commission in the post-election period.

    In 2006, Justice Adamson was recalled to the Ministry of Justice and was posted to the DPP where he remained until his new appointment. He drafted the team that prosecuted the notorious Rev. King’s case, responded to the appeal of the defendant at the Court of Appeal. He has just completed the brief for filing at the Supreme Court on the matter.

    He also handled many high-profile cases while in the DPP. His diligence and resourcefulness and dedication to work earned him, “The most productive officer of the year award” in the senior staff category in 2011.

     

  • ‘Some judges are lazy’

    ‘Some judges are lazy’

    AELEX Law Firm, one of Nigeria’s largest and successful commercial law firms, has marked its 10th Anniversary. In this interview with Legal Editor John Austin Unachukwu, one of the firm’s founding partners Mr. Soji Awogbade, speaks on the challenges of sustaining a large practice, legal  education, arbitration and sundry issues.

    What are some of the challenges in forming and sustaining a large law firm, such as yours, in Nigeria?

    Sustaining a practice of this size and at this level, particularly with your touted strengths, means that you have to keep adding to your skill sets, because you have to meet the needs of your clients.

    What we say to the clients as the basis of our initial decision to merge, was that we thought that the legal market required more skills sets than was resident in any of the existing firms. And if we were not going to fall into the trap of just growing by numbers and not skills set, then we had to do some integration along those lines, specifically.

    Coming along now, I think that we have made a difference to how the business of law is done. We probably are the only firm that still practises specialisms. Partners stick with what they are known for, and that seems to be the way to go.

     

    Does that really count for an industry that has become so diverse with practitioners expanding their skills and specialisations to embrace emerging markets and trends?

    Well, it is going to count more and more, because the size of the market that we service is expanding, the kind of investors coming into our market now are not doing so in briefcases or suitcases. They are coming with global establishments, wanting to take advantage of what the economy offers. To that extent, they are going to require not just legal services, but all sorts of services  to back them up. Because whether it is legal or physical constraints, they have to do some shopping here, which is in consonance with that development.

    What is difficult, is actually finding the skills.

    What do you mean?

    Our system has not completely escaped the concept of “My empire,” “Your empire”. The prevailing circumstances around here shows that by the time skill sets begin to mature in law firms with a need to up the antics, associates pack up and leave to set up shop else where.

    What is the place of one man practice in this scheme of things?

    Without disrespect to their readiness to take on tasks out there and face the world, I’d say most of them are unprepared for the level you and I are describing now. The level where a client says I need 20 people on a transaction. If you are a ‘one man’ firm, short of taking a holiday from other clients, how would you meet this demand? How are you going to get 20 people? This is the kind of Push and Pull that exist here.

    There is always going to be a market for boutique-sized type firms, who are smart enough to confine themselves to their areas of specialisation and strengths and sell out  other parts in which they do not have the required skills or expertise to other suppliers of labour or services. The fact remains however, that for you to be a full service law firm, you must possess the complementary qualities that make you one.

    How effective are our laws as   tools for economic developmet?

    Let’s face it,  this is the subject of a dissertation because first and foremost, you must ask yourself, is Nigeria constituted as an environment? Are the standards the same across board? What you may not get away with in Ogun State, you may likely get away with it in Imo State and this goes all the way across the country.

    Secondly, what is the process of law making in Nigeria? How reflective of our thinking are the laws? How dynamic are they to cater to realities around us? I agree that we are still young as a nation, but the same basic elements that other countries have used as touchstones for development are the same settings that we have right now.

    It is bound to be a collective decision to do things differently and to change things around here; at least to the best of our abilities, better than not trying at all. Many of us have given up trying while others don’t even bother trying.

    Have you ever heard one public official give you a coherent reason why the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has not been passed into law? Not one! Instead of telling us what the problem is, they continue making one promise after another. In  other countries, a decent office holder would simply say “you know what, I can’t do this anymore, please appoint someone else to do it.” This is because, where he/she fails to do this, someone will ask for his head and before this machete-man comes, they’ll simply say, “I’m sorry I cannot deliver, here’s the job.”

    When you get to a society where no one asks you to account, no one audits what you do? you simply carry on with business as usual. This is the society we live in today and even the law isn’t sufficient to grapple with the challenges we face today.

    There have been concerns that despite some admissions into the partnership of the firm from within, no woman has been considered for such an elevation. Are the women falling short of the firm’s high standards?

    I assure you, that this would happen very soon. As a matter of fact, I can tell you for nothing that it nearly happened not too long ago, but the candidate left just about that time.

    That is the nature of the industry. Chances are, if I think I am good enough to stand on both legs, I’d simply ‘WALK’. We are used to these patterns in the professional services sector. We don’t expect anyone to plant themselves like a tree. However, at AELEX if you are very good, you may not be let off and that’s how you become a partner. This is the ordinary method by which this happens.

    When you are very good, you are spotted early and given responsibilities. If you are passionate and in love with the work you do and the achievements you’re making, you don’t just leave and walk away. You aspire higher and make better progress until you get to the top. So it is simply a coincidence of right time, right choice!

    What reforms would you suggest for legal education in the country to enable law firms compete favourably in the global legal market?

    The curriculum needs to be more streamlined. We must ensure that people are not studying law for the sheer heck of it. In the UK,  even as we speak, you don’t need a law degree to be a lawyer. There are other channels. And though these other channels mean harder and longer work, it is a choice that one has to make. By the time all of this hard work is done, the finished product would have been tried and tested either way.

    Here in Nigeria, students possess an examination mentality. We memorise, reproduce, and get a first class. You should come in here when I conduct interviews for first-class graduates for employment and you’d have a field day. Some of these graduates were forced to study law and as far as they are concerned, this obligation has been fulfilled. They have no passion for the law. During quantitative aptitude tests, first-class graduates fall flat on their faces. How would such a person solve problems? I have liabilities if I give wrong advice and I cannot take that risk.

    We must streamline our curriculum and teaching methods, to steer us away from rote learning. We need a country and a leadership that  knows what it really wants to achieve.

    Despite the introduction of fast- track procedures in our courts, the judiciary is overburdened and cases are still being delayed. The impact of this on foreign investments cannot be overemphasised. Is there any solution to this setback to justice delivery?

    The answer is supply and demand. I don’t go to court any more for these reasons. I haven’t been in a law court for the past 28 years. In any society where there are no consequences for anything, there will be trouble. The reasons that cases are adjourned are scandalous. The number of times they are adjourned is unearthly, usually at the drop of the heart. But guess why? We have so many lazy lawyers. Corruption is not the only issue plaguing our judicial system today. More often than not, it is the combination of one lazy lawyer and one lazy judge. A judge should be able to say, “No adjournment, I’m going on,” so that cases are resolved expeditiously, rather than give in to the whims and caprices of lazy and mischievous lawyers.

     

    Are you saying judges don’t do this?

    Only a few actually put their foot down against this indolent and ill-intended act. This is because there are quite a handful of lazy ones in the bunch. Every professional in Nigeria has five other engagements or businesses other than what they are paid to do; and judges are not exempted from this act. They are always in a hurry to leave the courts to go take care of other businesses – workshops, lectures, luncheons, meetings, and several other activities.

    Some of those appointed to the bench lose sight of the fact that when you accept to become a judge, you have made the decision to take yourself away from social scenes. You become dead to social activities. Most of them don’t realise what they set themselves up for and so they carry on with business as usual and this has its effect on our justice delivery system.

    With regards to corruption in the system, some judges go to the bench with set plans. They work to be posted to the right courts and would do anything to be posted to the right courts, and then they work to be assigned the right cases. A lot goes on; on this altar of justice as we call it. However, if you must resolve your disputes by litigation, then by all means go to court.

    Looking back to 2004, when the firm AELEX launched out, how does it feel to be marking the 10th anniversary?

    It sure feels good. The expression is that one couldn’t foresee what the nature of the journey would be, or forecast some of the obstacles we met along the way.

    Whether the vision was bold or brave, brash or rash, we couldn’t really say at the time. I have led a practice that was big, but it was never an integrated partnership, it just happened to be big in numbers. The difference with the Aelex partnership was the fact that we combined our strengths. Ten years later, we are still trying to acquire more skill set and that I think, is the nature of the development itself.

    Employees are known to work harder and give more in organisations where they consider themselves stakeholders of the business. What sort of structure does Aelex have to instil such confidence in its employees?

    When we started AELEX, it was very clear in our minds what we wanted to do, who we wanted to be and where we wanted to go. Starting with the name of the firm, Aelex, it is not the true name of any of the partners, though we all came from backgrounds where we had our names in the firm’s logo, etc.

    We were clear in our minds that it was not going to be, “my firm” or “your firm”. Rather, it would be a firm where you would come, prove yourself and grow up. This is the way we have kept it. We have made partners as we moved along. It is one place, where no one partner can sack an employee. By the time you are ripe for sacking everyone would have seen it.

    If you look at the way we appraise our people, it is almost a 360-degree thing. You cannot be that good and I would think that you are not good at all. I may not think that you are as good as my partner thinks you are, but that you are not good at all should not be the case. All of these kinds of elements we have eliminated at Aelex and so, it is not a firm where you can leverage on relationships with partners or anyone for that matter to rise to the top. It is also not a place where you can leverage on your gender. You have to roll up your sleeves and dig in the trenches with everyone else. This is one thing I think we have succeeded in establishing.

     How do you develop skills to cope the ever-changing legal environment?

    Truly, this is one thing we have been successful at, speaking of formal training and development. We are probably the leaders in what you may call, development spending. We invest massive alot of money on training and developing our team. Unfortunately, having regard to what I said before, there is no guarantee that these skills would remain with you, as they make their way out into the market and away from you, after these trainings. I think in this country, if you talk about a community called the ‘Aelex Alumni’, it is a substantial pool of very sharp minds; who have given themselves a brand in the market. That kind of value addition to the industry and market, is one of the significant achievements we can point to in the last 10 years.

    Do you think this will pave the way for a successful Arbitration practice in Nigeria?

    Arbitration is getting more and more grounded in Nigeria. First, the selection process is prolonged. It is much slower than the selection process of the courts, and it can set you back some huge sums. We are in a large arbitration at the moment; a process we kicked started one year ago, and we still haven’t moved. Beyond that, someone can still go to court to halt the entire process and there is little you can do about that at the moment, because access to justice must always be guaranteed. But if you do this in a few other jurisdictions, you will pay dearly for it.

    What I’m saying is that it is not always going to be the most appropriate solution, because if you are talking about judicial enforcement as a pronouncement, this is infinitely more powerful than an arbitral decision. Also, the simplification of an arbitral process, sometimes turns out to be an oversimplified process. Arbitration used to entirely time- efficient but today, the time is not that superior over litigation. Still, as with litigation, people make their choices with regards to these processes.

     

  • ‘How judges, magistrates contribute to prison congestion’

    ‘How judges, magistrates contribute to prison congestion’

    The Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) has attributed the growing incidence of congestion in prisons and death of inmates to the delay in the nation’s criminal justice system and attitude of prosecutors, who mostly do not handle cases diligently.

    The NPS argued that judges and magistrates engage in delay and abuse their pre-trial detention discretion. It queried the wisdom in the practice where prosecuting agencies bring multiple charges against accused persons in different courts, when such cases could be consolidated and tried with dispatch.

    The Service,  in a statement issued in Abuja by its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Ope Fatinikun, reacted to allegations linking it with the deaths of some prison inmates. It denied involvement in the illegal killing of inmates as claimed in a recent publication by rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN).

    Citing the most recent case of death in prison of the alleged trans-border criminal, Hamanni Tijanni, Fatinikun said the late inmate died as an awaiting trial, having been on trial for over 10 years, during which he was taken to various courts for more than 100 times.

    Tijanni’s cases, Fatinikun said, were never completed before he died.  Tijanni, from Benin Republic, was being tried for his alleged complicity in the robbery attempt on the vehicles conveying the daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Iyabo. He was first remanded in the Maximum Security Prison, Lagos by a Chief Magistrate Court in Ijebu- Ode, Ogun State on June 22, 2003. He remained in prison until his death.

    “Tijanni, was remanded in Maximum Security Prison,Kirikiri, Lagos on June 22, 2003 by the Chief Magistrate Court, Ijebu-Ode, for allegedly receiving stolen property. On December 12, 2003 an Abeokuta High Court also detained him, having been charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery. A Lagos High Court remanded him on February 14, 2004 for allegedly receiving stolen property.

    “Trial in the Abeokuta High Court case began on 2nd February 2005. Despite the constraint of inadequate vehicles at the Lagos State Command, a vehicle was dedicated to him (Tijanni) since he was standing trial in multiple cases in different locations in Lagos and Ogun States,” he said.

    Fatinikun said Tijanni was taken to courts 194 times before he died on December 19, last year. He gave details to include:  Chief Magistrate Court, Ijebu-Ode, 50 times; Abeokuta High Court, 37 times and the Lagos High Court, 117 times.

    “On December 7, 2007, after about four and a half years, as awaiting trial person, he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the Ijebu-Ode Court; the Abeokuta High Court discharged him for lack of diligent prosecution, while the Lagos High Court was still hearing his case till his death.

    “The Maximum Security Prison, Kirikiri has a referral hospital, which caters for the medical needs of all inmates in Lagos. The hospital runs 24 hours and usually has about four doctors on shift duty.

    “On admission, Tijanni was diagnosed with hypertension and was placed on drugs. But on February 20, 2011, his condition deteriorated, the hypertension became severe and he was immediately admitted into the Maximum Prison’s referral hospital.

    “On February 13, last year, Tijanni took voluntary discharge from the hospital and refused medication despite his blood pressure being very high and as against medical advice. The Welfare Section of the prison referred him to the Counseling Unit. The Controller of Prisons, Lagos State Command advised him against such action, but all efforts proved abortive.

    “Sadly, on the night of June 16, last year, Tijanni had a left sided stroke and was rushed to the Maximum Security Prison’s referral hospital, where he was initially admitted for stabilisation. On June 18,  (less than 48hrs after the initial stroke) he was referred to the Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital, Ojo, Lagos (with card no 07-08-38).

    “He was seen by a cardiologist, and Physiotherapist and treatment started the same day. He was usually taken to the Navy Hospital every two days and was always seen by the Cardiologist as and when due.Based on his condition, the prisons formerly wrote the Lagos State’s Attorney-General on Mr. Tijanni’s health challenges and the need to expedite action on his trial, which was characterised by frequent adjournments.

    “To this effect, on December 24,  the Attorney-General of Lagos State sent a team of doctors from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) to ascertain the health conditions of Mr. Tijanni. The team examined him and took samples for investigations. The team promised to come back, but never did until his death.

    “Finally, Mr Hamanni Tijanni died in his sleep on December 19. All necessary agencies were notified and autopsy was carried out by the Lagos State Government in the presence of members of his family and lawyers. The report of the autopsy is available ,” Fatinikun said.

  • ‘Some of our judges are lazy’

    ‘Some of our judges are lazy’

    Chief Idowu Sofola (SAN) turned 80 on September 29. Born in Ikenne, Ogun State, he was called to the English Bar at Middle Temple Inn of Court, London on July 17, 1962. He enrolled at the Supreme Court of Nigeria on July 30, 1962, after studying Law at Westminster College of Commerce, London and Holborn College of Law. He was elected General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in 1979 and Secretary-General of the International Bar Association (IBA) in 1986 – the first African and the first non-white to hold the office. Sofola was elevated to Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 1989 after 29 years at the Bar. In this interview with JOSEPH JIBUEZE, he speaks on improving the legal profession and tackling the prevailing security challenges.

    How do you feel at 80?

    I feel great. Sometimes, I ask myself: ‘Am I 80 really?’ A few years ago when people called me ‘Baba’, I would say: ‘Why are you calling me Baba? I’m a young man like you.’ But now I think the truth is I’m ‘Baba’. I thank and I give glory to God.

    How do you see the profession now compared to when you began your career?

    Things have changed. Those days we were very highly respected. A lawyer was respected and trusted, but now we’ve lost a lot of that. Our boys are not as serious as we were those days. There was a lot of hard work and preparations before going to court. Otherwise, we’re coping; we’re managing.

    Who were your mentors?

    There were many of them, such as my late brother Kehinde Sofola and Chief Rotimi Williams (SAN). Chief Fani Kayode (SAN) was a fantastic man; H. O Davies – many of them.

    Why did you go into the profession?

    First, I think it must have been the work of God. But then when my late brother arrived from England as a lawyer, I was always with him, and I was like his office clerk. Especially during the holidays, I would go out serving court processes and letters and doing the job of a clerk–even during school days. I was going to court with him and I was carried away with how he handled cases. He made a lot of impression on me. The way he dressed those days, one could not but get carried away. In order to become a lawyer I had to go to England. In our own days we had only the University of Ibadan and they were not offering law. They were limited in the courses they offered in those days.

    What would you have studied if not Law?

    I probably would have been a doctor, and maybe I would have made it, but I have no regret with this one (law).

    What was the experience in your early days of practice?

    When I made up my mind to go and read law, I resigned from the Federal Ministry of Labour and joined the judiciary as a court clerk. That gave me some experience. When I finished in England and after being called to Bar, I enrolled for nine-month post-call classes. By the time I came back, I was not just a certificate holder. I had gone beyond that. My brother would give me file and ask me to go to so and so court and handle this ex-parte motion. I went and I did it. The following day he would say go to that court. I was a bit jittery alright, but not as bad, and quickly I got over it.

    Did you specialise in any area of Law?

    It’s good to specialise, but when we started, if you say you specialised, and somebody comes to you with a problem outside your area of specialisation and you say ‘no, I don’t deal with that’, he would think this man didn’t complete his law studies. So you have to be prepared to take any case. It costs you more time because you have to go and read up the law on the issue, but somehow you get used to it. But now that we’re getting many and we’re now having chambers with partners and associates, we can now specialise. It is unlike our days of one-man practice and you must be able to handle any case which came to you. To specialise is better. You become better.

    How can the falling standards you referred to be addressed?

    You have to go back to the schools, to the university, because the products – when they speak English you will think they’re good, but let them write something down for you. You will be surprised. We have to sit them up from there, and even at the Law Schools. When some come into practice, they’re thinking of money, money, money. Money will come when it will come. You should take the first years of your practice as an extension of your law school studies. Money will come when it will. Work hard.

    Can a young lawyer learn on the job on their own?

    I’ll ask them to think twice, because they cannot make it. What you learned in the Law School is how to find your law when you need it. You learn the law itself in practice. When we come to practice we come to learn it. And how do you learn it? By practicing it. And how do you practice it? You must have the case. If you graduate as a lawyer with first class, your father has money and gives you a whole house and you set up a chambers, spend millions to buy books, if clients don’t come to you to handle cases, you won’t have cases to learn from or practice with. So you have to work with a senior, who will give you cases, then you practice, make mistakes and learn. Even your father, as rich as he is, cannot bring his friends to come and experiment with his son. It’s not possible.

    Were there adjudication delays in your early years of practice?

    In my days, if you had a case in the High Court – we used to refer to Mondays as ‘call-over days’, you take a date for hearing. Sometimes they give you one day; sometimes two, sometimes three and the cases will go on those days. Nobody has reason to come and say I’m not ready, not even the judge. Now you go to court on any day and you see about 20 to 30 cases on the judge’s list! He could spend half a day giving dates and before taking a case that day. That really kills time. The old system of just taking a date is important. We have more judges, yet problems still come up.

    What other problems have you noticed?

    Another problem is with our judges: some of them are lazy. I think we should be more careful the way we take in judges. Let us appoint serious ones and when they get there get them to work hard. In those days, at 9.am, the judge knocks on the down and he is sitting. But now you find some judges sitting 10.30am or 11.30am. Some that sit at 9.30am, in an hour’s time, they would say: ‘The court will rise and come back’. All these cause delays.

    How can lawyers help to save time?

    Some lawyers too are always asking for adjournments, sometimes because they have so many cases in a day. Why should you have two cases in a day before different judges? And some lawyers who are not ready find reason to cause an adjournment. Sometimes they know they have bad cases; instead of telling the client from the word go that it is a bad case, they say ‘let’s go on’. And he keeps on finding reason to take adjournment.

    What is the way out?

    Also, asking judges to do cases like election petitions or sit in tribunals – taking them away from their own job means cases before them are not heard. So let us leave some of these things to retired judges. There are retired ones who are still strong, active, agile and able to deliver. For some of them, you wonder: ‘Why is this one going on retirement’? There are good ones who leave the Bench all because they have reached the retirement age. They are good materials for this type of thing. There are many of them.

    Are you worried by corruption in the judiciary?

    When I came back from England in those days and started practice, there was no corruption in the judiciary. When it was starting, it was in the magistrates’ court where they said some magistrates were collecting money to grant bail. I didn’t believe it because nobody took money from me. But later, it went from there to the high court. It remained in the high court for a long time before it went to the Court of Appeal and now the Supreme Court. At that time the Body of Senior Advocates gathered and said look, let us talk to the authorities not to make promotions from magistracy to the high court automatic so they will not go and corrupt the place.

    How can it be tackled?

    We said let us appoint people from the Bar, decent people, Senior Advocates of Nigeria to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court since the law allows it. We passed that resolution at that time and gave it to the authorities. Corruption would have been killed at that time. But those we knew were actually corrupt as magistrates were elevated. Now it is there and we cannot allow it to continue. The present Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloma Mukhtar is doing her best. They dismiss and retire judges. I think she should continue that way and let others follow suit.

    Should corrupt judges better not be tried for corruption?

    We’ve started from somewhere. Something has started. But I agree with you. But before now, how many of them were retired, or dismissed or sacked? We’ve started somewhere. We should encourage those who are doing it to keep doing it.

    Terrorism is one of Nigeria’s biggest challenges. Is the fight against it being handled aright?

    Before one can judge, you have to be in possession of facts. The problem we have in this country is that many of us we say things that will suit us, and we attack when we think we’ll gain advantage from there. For example we heard America said Israel should not send drones. I also heard America and England refused to send to us because they believe we’re not using them in the right way. We also heard from the news too that the boys we sent out are running away from battlefront because they don’t have enough ammunition.

    What is the solution?

    I think it’s a national problem. I think all politicians should forget politics and sit down together. There are things they should know that must not be exposed to the public. Nigeria is for all of us. I’m not happy that the insurgents are gaining the hand they are gaining. I thought they would have been crushed within six months. Let us work together. Let us all be patriotic and fight as patriots. In England and America, if anything happens, everyone forgets politics and faces the national problem and fights it together.

    How does Nigeria of the past compare to now?

    A lot has changed. I was born in Ikene where there was no hospital or maternity centre. I was told my mother gave birth to me unaided because there was nobody around to help her. While we were taking our school certificate, an officer would come from the Ministry of Works to interview us for employment. By the time we finished our exams, we already had jobs. Also by the time we were finishing from the university, work was already waiting for us with a car and accommodation. But things have changed now. As a school certificate holder, you can’t even look for job except the job of a houseboy or a messenger.

    Would you say that values have changed?

    Lawyers used to be highly respected. One day I was coming from the court and I passed through Leventis, I saw brand new cars. One of the sales people asked me which one I wanted and I told him that I was just looking at them. He asked me to take one and pay later. Their own car was 850 pounds but they said that I could trade in my own for 250 pounds and they told me that I could pay the remaining 600 pounds in installments within three months. I raised the first installment but my elder brother ended up paying the rest. They allowed me to take the car home without depositing or signing any document. Can they do that to anybody now? No one can be trusted. One day I was in the high court and wanted to use the rest room. I kept my wig and gown at the entrance. When I came out in two or three minutes, my wig and gown had disappeared. They must have been stolen by a lawyer!

    Did you ever consider leaving the Bar for the Bench or politics?

    I was invited to the Bench, initially as a magistrate and later as a judge, but I refused. I have never been interested in politics because I can’t stand the way politics is being practised in Nigeria. There is no patriotism in Nigerian politics. I was interested in the Labour Party when I was in England. I was attending their meetings but when I came back and saw the way things were done, I decided that it was not for me.

     

  • NJC probes pro-Fayose thugs’ attacks on judges

    NJC probes pro-Fayose thugs’ attacks on judges

    Tension in Ado-Ekiti 

    CNPP, SANs, Saraki, others worried

    The National Judicial Council (NJC) may convene an emergency meeting over last week’s attack on courts and judges in Ekiti State by pro-Governor-elect Ayodele Fayose thugs, The Nation has learnt.

    Mr. Justice John Adeyeye was attacked by Fayose’s supporters, who tore his suit, at the Ado-Ekiti High Court premises.

    A report on the incident has been written by Ekiti State Chief judge, Justice A. S Daramola, whose court room was invaded and record shredded. Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Mariam Alooma Muktar, who is the NJC chairman, got the report on Friday, according to sources.

    It was gathered that the NJC is of the opinion that a firm decision must be taken on the matter to strengthen  the esteem of the judiciary.

    Investigation by our correspondent revealed that NJC members were “embarrassed” because the attacks on judges threaten the Judiciary.

    A source said: “The NJC is going to probe the incidents because the assaults amounted to threats to the Judiciary. And if the Judiciary cannot operate freely in any society, anarchy will set in.

    “Already, the NJC is  planning an emergency meeting on the development in Ekiti which, if not checked, may be replicated in other states.”

    The source added: “The CJN has received a preliminary report from Ekiti Chief Judge; it is left to the NJC to conduct a comprehensive appraisal of the incidents.

    “Also, the Ekiti State Government and lawyers involved in the matters have also made representations to the CJN and the NJC.”

    Details of the report were not known yesterday, but a source said it contained the fact that Fayose “supervised” the thugs who beat up Justice Adeyeye.

    Fayose denied that any judge was assaulted.

    Another source said: “All the parties have sent reports on their travails to the CJN, who will present all the facts to the NJC.”

    Ekiti State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General  Mr. Wale Fapounda, has requested for the video recordings of Saturday’s Sunrise early morning programme on Channels Television in a possible investigation of the role of lawyers in the sacking of Justice Ogunyemi’s court in Ado Ekiti on September 2.

    The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) spokesperson during the programme, Mr. Gboyega Adesogan, stated that it was the PDP lawyer that informed the hoodlums of the happenings in the court which led to their violent disruption of proceeding.

    According to a statement from the office of the attorney general, the admission by the PDP spokesman corroborated witness accounts and the petitions he had received on the role of lawyers in the fracas.

    Yesterday, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties(CNPP) condemned attacks on judges and demanded the relocation of the affected courts from Ekiti State to the Federal Capital Territory(FCT).

    The CNPP made its position known in a statement in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary,  Mr Osita Okechukwu.

    The statement said: “The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP ) is outraged over the desecration and tragic assault on the temple of justice, in Ekiti State on 22nd and 25 September, 2014; resulting in assault of Judges and naked beating of Honourable John Adeyeye and subsequent closure of courts in the state.

    “Our understanding of what triggered-off the mayhem of September 22, 2014, was that political thugs allegedly associates of Mr. Ayo Fayose, the governor-elect of Ekiti State, frowned at the audacity of  Honourable Justuce Isaac Ogunyemi  to rule in favour of jurisdiction to try a case involving the governor- elect.

    “What emboldened the thugs to move violently on September 25 to sack the Ekiti Election Petition Tribunal was the siddon-look or sheer indifference of the Nigeria Police and other security agencies, in whose full glare the brutal attack took place.

    “Feeling highly insecure, since the security agencies had become accomplices of the thugs, the Chief Judge of State shut down the courts.

    “It is on this score that we call on the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the Nigeria Judicial Council to, as a matter of urgent national importance, relocate the two courts to the Federal Capital, Abuja, for speedy dispensation of justice.

    “CNPP cannot recollect where such bizarre and brazen assault on temple of justice took place in recent times, except in Uganda under Idi Amin and in banana republics of yester-years – Burma and Latin America.”

    Senator Bukola Saraki described the situation in Ekiti State as a big threat to democracy, political stability and judicial independence.

    Dr. Saraki, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), urged the National Judicial Council, The National Judicial Institute, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Body of Benchers and other related judicial bodies to rescue the judiciary.

    They “must also condemn this act and show concern in respect of this barbaric attack to one of their own,” he added.

    In a statement, the chair of Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology said: “I am personally worried and concerned, as a Nigerian and as a stakeholder in the Nigerian polity. Whether the Ekiti State crisis is APC or PDP driven or whether it is as a result of an act of commission or omission and or whether it is government, group of people or individually driven, I must say without any ambiguity that what has happened in Ekiti State in the last few days is totally unacceptable and should be dealt with immediately and decisively too in good time.

    “A situation where the independence of our judiciary and its  institutions in particular and the office of our respected judicial officials are no more secured and safe  to discharge and practise their constitutional responsibility and professional roles respectively,  calls for a signal that anarchy is about to set in to our polity.

    “It is unfortunate that at a time when we as a nation are battling high rate of insecurity and insurgency across the country and such assault is being unleashed on a Judge of a High Court on official duty, brings a deeper thought to the level of leadership we are providing to this country.

    “It is appalling that since the attack on one of the High Court judges in Ekiti State, the Federal Government, the Presidency and the ruling party has either refused, neglected or failed to make a formal pronouncement on this unwarranted attack. This is a sign of bad leadership. A precarious situation of this nature should not be sacrificed on political expediency.  This is unacceptable.

    “A situation where the Federal Government, the Presidency and the party that forms the government at the national level deem it not to be concerned and decide to keep mum over the unwarranted attack on our judges is an act of dereliction of duties and responsibilities,” he said.

    Senior lawyers described the attack on judges and court as an unwarranted debasing of the temple of justice, and a threat to the sustenance of democracy.

    Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), Duro Adeyele (SAN), the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, rights activist Festus Keyamo, Kalouma Umar and Richard Chukwuocha said this “frightening trend” must be halted immediately.

    Adeyele said: “The attack is very unfortunate. It should not happen at all. The court is the last hope of the common man, and so long as we keep it high, it will be better for our society.

    “It is not in the interest of those who attacked the court. I am sure they will realise this and change their stance. This is not about what the government should do. It is a question of what the people should do. People should imbibe civility and know what is good for their interest.”

    “What they are doing in Ekiti is actually against the interest of those who attacked the court. This is because if they are accused of anything, they will be taken to that same court. It is in the general interest that people desist from such unnecessary attacks on the court,” the Senior Advocate said.

    Okutepa said: “If it did happen, then we should say goodbye to the rule of law. We are already facing serious intimidation and the almost extinction of rule of law in this country. So, if the rule of the jungle is now taking over the rule of law, then might will soon become right and the peace and tranquillity currently being  threatened, would have been completely wiped out.

    “The criminally-minded will continue to rule us and the rest of us will have to run for our dear lives. And then, we can now say Nigeria is finally dead. I just wish it didn’ happen.

    “It may be Ekiti today, the next could be Abuja. They are testing the waters, and it portends grave danger for 2015. It means that electoral process can no longer be determined by democratic means.”

    To Keyamo, “it is complete debasing of the Judiciary” and that should never happen. “If it becomes a trend, and the Judiciary is continually subjected to attack, that may well be the end of democracy,” he said, adding: “Politicians are now bringing the hooliganism in politics to the Judiciary. It is what all right thinking men must condemn. It must stop immediately. To attack the Judiciary is to drag the Judiciary into the muddy waters of politics. And that will destroy the entire democratic process,” he siad.

    In Odinkalu’s view, “it is despicable. Actually, it is beyond despicable in view of the fact that you are not hearing a consensus condemnation across the political divide,” he said, adding:

    “This is because the same politicians will go to these election tribunals tomorrow. I do not thinks there is word enough to condemn what is happening.

    “The law is very clear that it is wrong to attack a judge. And if that happens, the law is very clear on what should be done. The fact that we are not seeing any meaningful steps to punish those behind this condemnable act means that some people have been licensed to attack judges.

    “Today, it is happening in Ekiti State, tomorrow, it is going to happen elsewhere and this is gradually returning us to 1963 and 1964 in the Southwest and the country, nobody wants this.”

    Chukwuocha condemned it all as “ serious infraction on the rule of law and the height of contempt in the face  the court. All the people that participated in that mayhem should be arrested and prosecuted, and if found guilty, should be prosecuted according to the law,” he said.

  • ‘Corrupt judges should face trial’

    ‘Corrupt judges should face trial’

     Adedotun Habeeb Adetunji is the Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association, Ikorodu Branch. In this interview with JOSEPH JIBUEZE, he expresses his views on how corrupt judges should be treated among other issues.

    A retired Supreme Court justice once said the legal profession is retrogressing. Do you agree with him? And how can the falling standards be halted (both in the bar and bench)?

    Before I became a lawyer, I have been hearing of falling standards in the legal profession. But we should look at this from the broader perspectives and  not just the legal profession , the educational standard in the country has fallen and with it all the other sectors too.

    Tracing the retrogression in the legal profession, one would see that decentralisation of the Nigerian law school was part of it. This is evident when you observe the sorry performance of some of our Lawyers in courts. I mince no words in advocating that law degree should be a second degree course in Nigeria as its obtainable in the United States and United Kingdom.

    Most of our young colleagues these days graduate between the ages of 20-22 years  and I believe they should be encouraged to do their post graduate courses to enhance their deep knowledge of the law and their capacity to face the challenges of the profession. Continuing legal education as a way of halting the falling standard in the legal profession cannot be over emphasized, for me it should now be compulsory for all legal practitioners as obtainable in other climes.

    A lot has been said about slow the process of justice administration/dispensation. How can this problem be solved?

    The caliber of personnel appointed to judicial positions is one of the major problems we have as it relates to the slow process of justice administration/ dispensation. For instance if a legal practitioner is called to the Nigerian bar and hitherto has worked all his years in the banking sector attending to mortgages and debentures, who is eventually appointed to the bench to deal with matters that are not banking related, how do you expect him to perform?

    Obviously, that person lacks the capacity to adjudicate on the various cases that comes to the court. Remember our courts are not that specialised. One judge will do land matter today, tomorrow he will do company matter, another day he will do criminal matter. It is a general court, if you now bring somebody whose only knowledge of law is about mortgages and debentures to handle land matter, how do you expect him to   deliver a sound judgment? That is why there is delay; they keep adjourning the cases because they don’t know what to do or what to write.

    Even at the Court of Appeal, some of those that are being appointed these days are not really       qualified but because of the flaws in the system, they find their way to the court of appeal. The solution lies in putting a square peg in a square hole. The procedure for appointment of judges must be reviewed and overhauled for us overcome this challenge.

    What is your assessment of NJC’s role in judge’s performance, considering that some still exhibit laziness, such as by sitting late?

    The presence of lazy and incompetent judges in the judicial system is a great challenge to it. The NJC that ought to be the regulatory body has largely been found wanting. Till date, the NJC has neither sacked nor penalised judges for laziness or for lack of productivity and as such we continue to experience long delays in the adjudication process. Ditto for incompetent judges; every day we read about horrible judgments being dished out by some of our judges and yet nothing is done by the NJC.

    The best they did was perhaps the suspension of Justice Talba of the pension fund scam fame for just one year. So we find people getting more courageous at being lazy and incompetent because they know they can get away with it.

    There have been calls that judges found guilty of corruption be made to face trial rather than just retiring or dismissing them. Do you buy the idea?

    The principle of presumption of innocence entitled a person to defend himself with everything at his or her disposal including good legal representation. Besides, the best way to deal with corrupt judges is not merely to dismiss or retire them quietly when they are found culpable as NJC presently does, but to subject them to a full criminal trial. If it has been established that a judge is corrupt, he should be tried. That’s the only way the judiciary can operate with moral authority. We must give corruption the real treatment it deserves hence it is my opinion that judges in such situation must face the consequences of their actions.

    The CJN said the corruption in the judiciary is aided by lawyers. Do you think the NBA doing enough to check lawyers’ excesses or is more required?

    Corruption is the greatest challenge we are facing in the judiciary. It is pervasive and threatens the legal profession like the sword of Damocles. The issue of corruption in the judiciary must be tackled headlong if we are to remain relevant in the society. Judges should be made to publicly declare their assets at the time of being sworn in and at the time of retirement or elevation.

    Judges should be made to explain the source of money for the mansion and castles they build while in office. Judges who have less than two years to retire should not feature in election petition cases or appeals. In this way, judges will be cautioned and would to a large extent be able to resist temptations from lawyers who will or may want to tempt them with mouth watering sums as bribe.

    In the same vein, lawyers caught in such act should be made to face disciplinary action at the NBA level even though it is apparent that the NBA as presently  constituted have not gotten enough machineries to monitor lawyer’s activities and /or to check or contain lawyers excesses. The NBA needs to be visible in this regard and be seen to be able to curtail the excesses of lawyers which are quite enormous in the circumstance.

    You were recently elected chairman of NBA, Ikorodu Branch. What should your members expect from you in the next two years?

    Welfare of members is paramount on my mind with special attention to the young lawyer’s forum of the branch. Unity of the branch cannot be compromised and all promises made during electioneering campaign, I shall strive, God willing to fulfill. I promised amongst other things a functional website and wireless internet connection at the secretariat, lawyers estate in ikorodu, reduced membership fees, befitting law week, series of continuing legal education session amongst various others.

    Do you agree that NBA election is long overdue for reform? What aspects of the process would you want changes made?

    I would have loved to see the delegates system of voting abolished as unrealistic as that may be for now. The zoning nonsense in the NBA is one thing I don’t believe in.  I believe it does not produce the best of the candidates. I would love to see a system of electronic voting introduced so that lawyers can vote without necessarily converging at a point and would have avoided the risk involved in transporting oneself to a particular location where the delegates’ conference is to be held.

    Nigeria is still rated high on the corruption index. Is the government losing the war against graft and official sleaze?

    In my view, Nigeria has no clue of how to tackle the monster called corruption. Every day, it rears its ugly head, it lives with us, dine with us.  Only a massive revolution can separate Nigeria from corruption. We have not started the war against it, so we can’t be talking of winning or losing it.

    Some have said President Goodluck Jonathan has failed as far as security is concerned. Do you agree? And are you impressed with his administration’s performance for him to return for a second term?

    Saying the president has failed as far as security is concerned is an understatement. Is it the Chibok girls we’ll talk about, or the Boko Haram that is killing scores of people daily?  All this administration is after is how to perpetuate itself in office, the President has turned crucial national policies into 2015 elections. When it comes to crucial economic decision, the government is clueless, but when it is politics you see the bare fang of the President.

    Please tell us a bit about why you chose law as a profession. Was it by accident?

    Actually, it was not an accident, rather by design. My father, Chief M. A. Adetunji JP,   was the architect of my choosing law as a profession and he, with the help of God, did all he could to ensure that I became a Lawyer. I am proud to be a Lawyer today and I would remain eternally grateful to him and my Creator.

    If you weren’t a lawyer, what would you have been?

    I thank God for putting me on the right path because if I weren’t a Lawyer, I have always wondered what I could have become. Becoming a political scientist is the closest I have ever thought of but I wouldn’t have been so satisfied and contented the way I am today as a lawyer. I think being a lawyer to me is the ultimate.

  • Impeachment: Why chief judges must be cautious

    Impeachment: Why chief judges must be cautious

    Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako was impeached a few weeks ago. His Nasarawa State counterpart, Umaru Al-Makura, is on the firing line. Media aide to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Ahuraka Yusuf Isah, in this article, examines the power of Chief Judges in the process.

    A country can still do well with bad laws but it cannot do well with bad judges. This is because if the judges are upright, they can mitigate the injustice, inhumanness created by people who made bad laws. But when judges are corrupt, even with good laws, development, justice cannot thrive’’ (Justice Akinola Aguda 1923-2004)

    The impeachment of the former governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, may become a lead to the floodgate of impeachments of state governors and, perhaps, the President and Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces of Nigeria.

    At the beginning, we heard through the rumour mills that some state governors, including those of Adamawa, Nassarawa, Rivers, and now Edo, Oyo and others yet to be named, would be impeached.

    The rumour of President Goodluck Jonathan’s impeachment also struck the airwaves, but fizzled out; perhaps because of the manner the move was crushed before it was hatched. But the case of Nyako is no longer rumour, he has been impeached, while Governor Al-Makura of Nassarawa State is currently facing the impeachment heat.

    Elections by their nature, serve as the means by which democracy is practised or fired into action. They confer legitimacy on some people to act as leaders or captain of their ship, sailing it through the tide of time.

    In contrast, impeachment or the removal of an official elected by the people is an exercise carried out by just a few, though representing the people. It is either a mark of sunset to crisis or convocation to crisis.

    Though the banished Duke in Shakespeare’s ‘’As you like it’’ opted to say that “there is the good side in every bad situation”, impeachment, in most cases amounts to sowing a whirl-wind or dragon teeth that hatches into bad omen in the society.

    That informed why General Yakubu Gowon and Alhaji Shehu Shagari, at the prompting  of General Ibrahim Babangida, moved in quickly to counsel former Speaker Ghali Na’aba and the former Senate President Pius Ayim not to pronounce the impeachment of former President  Olusegun Obasanjo in 2002.

    The concern of this writer is the fate of the Judiciary in this comic dance of absurd in our nation’s democratic practice. Professor Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN) had sounded a note of warning to judges in his book, ‘’Legal system, corruption and governance in Nigeria,’’ saying General Babangida held the judiciary responsible for the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

    In his annulment proclamation, General Babangida argued that ‘’the Judiciary has been the bastion of the hopes and liberties of our citizens. Therefore, when it became clear that the courts were intimidated and subjected to the manipulation of the political process, resulting in contradictory decisions and orders by courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction, then the entire political system was in clear danger. Accordingly, it is in the supreme interest of the laws and order, political stability and peace that the presidential election be annulled’’.

    In the same vein, General Sanni Abacha blamed the Judiciary for sacking Chief Ernest Shonekan’s Interim National Government, following Justice Dolapo Akinsanya of Lagos High Court judgment, declaring the government illegal and an aberration.

    The roles of the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Chief Judge of a state in the impeachment of either the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or a state governor are well provided for in the 1999 Constitution (as amended). The constitution asked occupants of these positions to constitute panels to investigate allegations of ‘‘gross misconduct’’ properly levelled against the President or the governor by either the National Assembly or the state Assembly as the case may be.

    Section 188(5) of the 1999 Constitution as (amended) for instance vested the powers on the state Chief Judge to appoint seven-man panel to investigate allegations of gross misconduct of the Executive Governor of a State. While carrying out this function, the chief judges are also to be guided by other sub-sections of Section 188.

    The mere failure by some Chief Judges of states in the past, especially, since the advent of the current democratic dispensation in 1999 has left many a dent on the Judiciary as an institution.

    The National Judicial Council (NJC) which is charged by the same 1999 Constitution to appoint and discipline judges have always taken it up, with utmost seriousness, with any Chief Judge that side-step this provisions of the constitution, which are crystal clear or unambiguous.

    NJC had, at its emergency meeting held at Abuja on December 20, 2006 and pursuant to the powers vested on it by Paragraph 21(d) of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, suspended, with immediate effect,  the Chief Judges of Anambra, Plateau and Ekiti states for the partisan roles played in the impeachment of their respective states.

    Those suspended were Justices Chika Okoli (Anambra), Ya’u Dakwang (Plateau), and both the Chief Judge of Ekiti state, Justice Kayode Bamisile and the former acting Chief Judge of the state, Justice Jide Aladejana.

    Chuka Okoli, former chief judge of Anambra State, will not forget in a hurry the powers of NJC. He was placed on suspension by the council for what is considered to be his inglorious act in the controversial impeachment of Peter Obi as governor of the state.

    Justice Bamisile was also sanctioned for similar misconduct. He was accused of allegedly compromising  himself by appointing on the investigation panel persons believed to be cronies of suspended Governor Ayodele Fayose, to probe the alleged misconduct of the governor. But Jide Aladejana, who stepped into Bamisile’s shoes without due process, goes with his boss in line with the council’s recommendation. Lazarus Dakyen, the chief judge of Plateau State, also lost his job because of his reluctance to be guided by law in his participation in the processes leading to the removal of Governor Joshua Dariye. Before them were Okechukwu Opene and D. A. Adeniji, who were indicted for taking bribe on the matter of the senatorial election in Anambra State. While Opene allegedly took N12 million, Adeniji was said to have collected N15 million. Though Akin Olujimi, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and then federal attorney-general, advised President Olusegun Obasanjo against their dismissal, the President upheld the decision of the NJC. Olujimi based his advice on the procedure adopted by the council in determining the case.

    They are not the only judicial officers who fell victims to the political crisis in Anambra State. Stanley Nnaji, then a judge of Enugu State High Court, was suspended in March 2004 for wrongly assuming jurisdiction on a matter outside his state.

    The judge had ordered Tafa Balogun, then Inspector-General of Police, to remove Chris Ngige, who was then the governor of Anambra State. Nnoruka Udechukwu, the state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, petitioned the NJC, complaining that the ruling was in bad faith and against the code of conduct of judicial officers.

    Nnaji was probably encouraged by the reluctance of the Federal Government to implement a similar decision of the council on Wilson Egbo-Egbo, another high court judge, for granting an injunction directing Ngige to stop parading himself as the governor.

    But shortly after Nnaji committed his own misconduct, Obasanjo approved Egbo-Egbo’s retirement. The latter is one of the nine judges so far retired for endorsing unnecessary ex-parte applications. They are not the only casualties of political cases.

    Five others were implicated in the 2003 Election Petition Tribunal in Akwa Ibom State. They adjudicated on the petition against the re-election of Governor Victor Attah by Ime Umanah, candidate of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), at the election.

    By the time the NJC concluded its job, Matilda Adamu, a judge of the High Court of Plateau State, Christopher P.N. Senlong of the Federal High Court, Lagos, and James Isede, a Chief Magistrate in the Edo State Judiciary, had earned themselves dismissal from the judiciary. D. T. Ahura of the High Court of Plateau State and A. M. Elelegwu of the Customary Court of Appeal, Delta State, were recommended for suspension.

    The Federal Government, after approving the verdict of the council on the higher officers in February 2004, sent their case files to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for trial.

  • Judges, lawyers hold valedictory session for Aturu

    Judges, lawyers hold valedictory session for Aturu

    The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) held yesterday a special valedictory session in honour of the late lawyer and activist, Mr Bamidele Aturu.

    Aturu died on July 9 in Lagos after a brief illness.

    The valedictory programme, which held at the Bar Centre, GRA, Ikeja, was attended by senior members of the Bench and Bar and other sympathisers.

    NBA Ikeja branch Chairman Yinka Farounbi described the late Aturu as a committed member of the branch who served in various capacities.

    He said the branch would immortalise the late Aturu with an annual programme, adding that his death was a big loss to the legal community.

    Farounbi said the event was historic because it was the first for any lawyer.

    Also, NBA Lagos branch Chairman Alex Mouka said the late Aturu was never afraid to speak up against any form of injustice.