'The Partridge on the Ridge' By Adesina Ogunlana

Yoruba people have a proverb about partridges. It goes thus:-
Aparo kan o ga ju kan lo,
afi eyi o gori ebe.
(“No partridge is taller than any other except the one on top of a ridge”).
Of course, the proverb has nothing to do about partridges or their height. Like other African ethnicities, the Yoruba are only drawing metaphors and imageries from nature to drive home their points and teach crucial, social, moral lessons.
Well, for those of us who may not know much about partridges, except dstveed ones, the bird, I can tell you is a sprightly fellow with sweet hardy meat. When cooked in rich egusi soup and sent on a journey with morsels of pounded yam as companions, en-route the stomach, even an atheist may lapse into a doxology to exclaim “ha! The Lord is good!”
Though no trained orthinologists the Yoruba are right in saying that all partridges are pretty much the same, when on the plains. Full grown, they are about a third of the size of a local hen, brown feathered and quite alert.
The proverb is actually an admonition against succumbing to or imbibing the disease of the swollen-headed-: pride. A proud person clothes himself in swagger and floats on pomposity because he believes that he is better, much better, indeed fantastically superior to other people.
But what is the source of the pride? It could be physical attributes, social status or wealth.
These are all part of what the Yoruba call, the “ridge” which when perched upon, elevates the partridge. Of course, if the ridge is dismantled under the feet of the partridge or adverse conditions chase the partridge off the ridge-it becomes clear and immediately so, that there is nothing particularly spectacular about the once-upon-a-ridge-partridge.
In the legal profession, there are two types of advocates. Those who argue positions and those who decide positions. Of course I am talking about lawyers and judges. Of course a judge is a lawyer, perhaps, a re-branded one.
A lawyer may never become a judge, but a judge will always be a lawyer. When a lawyer is a judge, he, in his place of work, sits in the bar. The long and short of it is that both, judex and barrister, are lawyers. But you need to see (and hear) some judges in action.
The way the carry themselves, their very comportment and their use of language-in court clearly show that they believe that they are a part of the clan of Zeus on Mount Olympus-gods and goddesses.
These companions of Zeus-talk down on litigants and counsel alike. They are full of their own sense of self importance Rudeness is routine and haughtiness is their hat. They are self recognised fountains of knowledge and any counsel who does not share their perspectives is nothing but a “compound ass”. They preen and boast of their sagacity and their tongues are scimitars. What they call “being in firm control of my court” is actually nothing but counsel bullying and litigant flaying.
Unfortunately for everybody, judges like that, who regard lawyers appearing before them as asses, by their conduct, display to the public that, they are jack-asses.
How do you help such-Zeus companions? How? They are touchy, cantankerous and garrulous, perpetually striving to show that they are wiser than wisdom itself and sager than sagacity.
If it may help, somebody may want to remind-pompous judges of the following truisms:-
1. No one knows it all.
2. A different opinion is not necessarily a wrong opinion.
3. Everyman is entitled to his opinions, including fools.
4. Life is not black and white.
5. Nobody is infallible.
6. From the mouth of babes, wisdom may come out.
7. Nonsense may turn out to be Good sense, if it is given time to land properly.
8. We learn everyday.
9. It is a privilege to be a judge, not a right.
10. Aparo kan o ga ju kan lo, Afi eyi to gun ori ebe.