'Unbecoming' By Adesina Ogunlana

I was at an Ikeja High Court, last week Thursday. Precisely Honourable Justice Kayode Ogunmekan’s court and I was disturbed the way the proceedings in a particular matter went.


It was a criminal matter and the prosecutor or the stand-in-prosecutor was a young state counsel. Given the very weak and untenable answers the barrister gave to the many sharp questions of the judge (obviously irritated by the apparent sloppiness of the prosecutor), it is correct to say, that the prosecutor was just “fumbling and wombling” through his work.


Well, many defence counsel have come to know that the trade mark of the prosecutors from the office of Director of Public Prosecution, Lagos State is to ensure that Justice proceeds at snail speed.


They almost always have problems producing their witness as at when due or at all. Yet they vigorously and automatically oppose the grant of bail or any thing that can ensure freedom for accused persons. I may be wrong but I think that the “normal” state counsel prosecutor sees an accused person as a yet to be convicted convict.


Sadly, most judges handling criminal cases indulge these state counsel all manners of latitude. A defence counsel may combine the erudition of a Cicero with the sagacity of a Denning and on top of it join the forcefulness of a Gani Fawehinmi yet what he hears at the end of the day is “Matter is hereby adjourned till xyz 2011 to enable the prosecution call its witness.”


One of the rare exceptions on the Bench to the often bewildering entertainment of poor and lazy prosecution from the D.P.P’s office is Justice Kayode Ogunmekan. She is one judge who does not allow state counsel feel that they can say or do as they like in her court and get away with it.


In fact, I have learnt that many of them in the office of the D.P.P. hate to be sent to the Kayode Ogunmekan’s court for prosecution, claiming that they will suffer persecution there.


However with due respect to the Honourable Judge, I must beg to disagree with the white-wash his lordship gave the affected state counsel on 23rd of June 2011. It was unnecessary and unbecoming.


At least twice, I heard the honourable judge shouting at the barrister to the hearing of all (and there were about fifteen lawyers and twenty five litigants) to “shut up.” At a point the infuriated judge, again raised her voice to reprimand the lawyer “Can’t you use your common sense?” It was as if the lawyer was a naughty kindergarten kid being ticked off by a school mistress.


I am sure all the lawyers there in court were very embarrassed. This is because, a judge we all know should be in control of her temper and by extension her tongue and should not be rude and abusive to counsel, for by so doing, the dignity, nay nobility of the high office of judge is seriously lowered and very open to debasement from the involved counsel who could be irked or provoked to give “tit for tat” to the judge, turning every thing pronto into “bolekaja” or “roforofo fight.”


I am sure even new wigs have heard the story of the abusive judge who got more than he bargained from a counsel, gifted with the ability of a quick and deadly riposte.


The judge had reportedly treated the submission of counsel with scorn by saying “you know all you’ve been saying has been entering through the right ear and going out through the left.” A very sarcastic way, of scouring the lawyer that his submissions were of no persuasive effect on the judge, futile and a waste of time.


No sooner had the judge landed, than the lawyer soared to his own unforgettable acme of insult. You know what he said? This was it: “I am not surprised that my words come through one ear and go out of the other, there is nothing in between to stop them!”


Fortunately in the matter at the Kayode-Ogunmekan’s court, the lawyer was the perfect gentleman. He was humble, he was meek. The angrier the judge got, the gentler he became.


As the rain of umbrage fell heavily on him, he hid himself under the umbrella of politeness and long suffering and in the long run earned the admiration of us his colleagues - so graceful he was under the withering fire of a badly annoyed judge.


Later some of us left the court and discussed the incident. I was aghast to learn that Honourable Justice Bisi Akinlade, ‘Sister Bisi’, to me, had allegedly also fallen into the interesting habit of abusing lawyers, in court.


When I expressed shock and disbelief, one of my discussants swore to Heaven that he heard ‘Sister Bisi’ telling a lawyer appearing before her to “shut up and jump out of my sight.”


I doubted his story and still doubt it. Except he was referring to another Bisi Akinlade J. The only Akinlade J. I know in the Lagos State Judiciary, was formerly of the office of the Public Defender (OPD) as Boss. Then I knew her as one very pleasant, warm, courteous and adorable “Egbon.”


So it can’t be the same ‘Sister Bisi’ who as judge would be so annoyed in court as to throw abuses at counsel the way reported or at all.


Trust me, when I see my sister, I will find out and I am sure my informant would be proved wrong.

'Strange in Lagos' By Adesina Ogunlana

In the University, one of my delicious law courses was Jurisprudence. When we were in the infant class (Part 1) they called it “Philosophy of Law” but in the Exit Class, they named it Jurissssspruderincie!(apology to the late Professor Adaramola, who taught the subject to final year students at the Lagos State University.

It is inevitable to learn in a Jurisprudence class of the various “schools of law.” You will learn of the Natural Law, (Lex Naturalis) Human Law (Lex Humana) Divine Law (Lex Divina), and a score of other theories of law. In that wise you will come across figures like St Augustine, Austin, Kelsen, Roscoe Pond, Karl Marx, Jhering, Oliver Wendell Holmes etc. The earliest theory you probably learnt is Natural Law, which is the so called ‘Law of Nature’ governing the celestial bodies, the seasons, usually rigidly set predictable and endless. According to this school, Man is subject to this law and nature itself has placed it in his mind the knowledge and dictates of what is good and what is bad. The more man is in sync with the Natural Law, the better for him.

The Natural Law theorists do not, it seems to me, fancy Lex Humana (Human Law) that much. To them it is an imperfect law that stumbles and wobbles on inconsistency, limited vision. For the human law to be good then it has to confirm to the Natural Law, which is discoverable in Man by reason. Until last Monday I did not quite appreciate the merit in the Natural Law propositions, even though I did not buy the cynical if not abusive dismiss of same by Jeremy Bentham or was it Austin who said Natural Law was “Nonsense walking on stilts."


Last Monday was June 13th 2011. The day before was the historic June 12 the birthday of the freest and fairest election in Nigeria, the 1993 General Polls, won by the late business mogul, Kashimawo Abiola and which was annulled on June 23rd 1993 by General Maradona Abanikanda (Ibrahim Babaginda) the too- smart for-his-own-good military president of Nigeria then.


Since 1999 in Lagos State, June 12 has became a public holiday, so reasonably Lagosians had expected that the June 12 of this year, which happened to fall on a Sunday (always a public holiday) would also be declared a public holiday, to be marked on the next work day June 13th 2011. Lagosians were encouraged in this “Natural Law” thinking when news had it that states like Ogun, Osun even Oyo State, which for about seven years in the past cared not for June 12 had declared Monday June 13 as a public holiday in honour of June 12 Democracy Day.


Alas, all through June 10, 11 and even June 12 2011, no such announcement came from the Lagos State Government. June 13 2011 soon showed its face but the good news did not come. In the event Lagosians, especially government workers dutifully but resentfully trooped to their various ministries and offices. Suddenly at about 10.30am, the declaration came -June 13 was now a public holiday in Lagos State. It was as if Lagos State Government just woke up from a very long sleep. A rather strange thing, considering that at the head of that government is an acclaimed ‘action governor?'


In the High Court, the open registry was shut down at about 10.30am but many Judges sat and sat very well and long indeed. So what happens to the Judicial activities of June 13 2011 in Lagos State. I need to ask since you are not taught what to do in such an unusual situation at the Law School. This takes me back to the criticism of the Human Law as suffering from unpredictability and unreliability. For twelve years, Lagos State declared “June 12" a public holiday. In the thirteenth year, for no clear reason, or prior notice, the same State declined to declare the day a public holiday. Then near mid-day it remembered to declare it again! .

This is very much unlike Natural Law (well before these so called end times of global warming, season dislocation, earth quakes etc) where the sun never fails to rise in the East and set in the West. Talking of the predictability, certainty and even perpetuity of Natural Law, I remember my cockerel. It was a gift from Daniel Oyewole Ogunlana “Daddy 1.” (D. O Ogunlana), several weeks ago. My old man meant it for my table but too much exposure to Western Education has restrained me from laying the blade to its neck.

So every morning come rain come shine, even come Abbotabad, this Cockerel, from about 5.35am crows mightily several times, intermittently as if its very life depends on it. The Cockerel never fails to crow unlike Lagos State, which obeys only Law Human and therefore can falter. If my Cockerel does not crow again, you can be sure his silence is not because of any willful or unwitting departure from Natural Law, its silence will be due to Man’s inhumanity to tasty birds.

'The Great Lecture" By Adesina Ogunlana

29th May, 2011 was a special day in Lagos State and in many parts of the country. That was the day a re-elected Governor Babatunde Fashola S.A.N was sworn into office at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos for his second and final term. The story was the same in many other states of the Federation and even the Federal Capital Territory, where Goodluck Ebele Azikwe Jonathan, the only living husband of a widow, Patience Jonathan (the Dame) also took Oath as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I dare say of all the swearing in ceremonies of the day, the most unique was that of Lagos.


Why Lagos? Could it be because of the “mammoth crowd” in attendance? A conservative count would put the number of attendees at five thousand. Could it be because of the gaiety and colour?


Oh yes, the occasion was full of colour. All the colours of the rainbow and their near and distant cousins were present in the headgears, suits, ties, wrappers, shoes, walking sticks, garments, etc., of the hundreds of uniformed men, masquerades, politicians, traditional dealers (rulers), civil servants, jobbers, priests, etc., who swarmed and swamped the Tafawa Balewa Square where the ceremony held. Ah, it is not for nothing the saying, “Lagos For Show! ”There were the occasional ‘hurrahs’ when one or two big men made their entrances into the Square. The hustle and bustle was infectious, the air was light and people just yakked away.


But it was not for all these that the Lagos affair was unique. In all other fora of inaugurations of the State Governors and Mr. Married Widower, there was plenty of colour and fun too.


What made the Lagos Case special was that it was the only inauguration that was preceded by an unprecedented event. Am I speaking in a too long drawn out riddle? Please bear with me. Swearing-in any person into a public office has always been a simple straight forward affair. The swearee is prepared afore the swearer.


Then the swearer reads out the legend to the swearee who repeats same, to the effect that he would keep the law, discharge his duties, according to the Constitution, without fear or favour and that he would not disclose official secrets, bla, bla, bla and so help me… (You can please fill in the gap).


Thus the deed is done. And exactly so, was it done all over Nigeria on 29th May 2011, except in Lagos. What then happened in Lagos? Good question. This was what happened; The Chief Judge straight away and duly swore in the Deputy-Governor, Mrs. Orelope Adefulire. So the stage was set for the swearing-in of the Governor.


The Deputy-Governor’s inauguration took maybe six, seven minutes, and that much because of the slow, ponderous old-Mother-in-Israel recitation style of the new Deputy-Governor. The woman’s voice was so heavy and thick that I easily imagined that it emanated from a falling mammoth!


At this juncture, the next step was to have the Governor sworn in. That was when the law of gravity stopped, tradition shorn, precedent dented and the norm went numb. Lo and behold, a new precedent was made ‘in our very before!’


I should waste time no longer and tell you what happened? Well, instead of the honourable Chief Judge of Lagos State proceeding to swear-in the Governor, she did what no “Swearer-in” had ever done before; She gave, delivered, presented and rolled out a lecture to the Governor in particular and the Executive arm of Government in general essentially on the need to be faithful to the well known doctrine of Separation of Power!


Poor Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola! The “Eko O ni Baje” exponent must have been thunder-struck where he was seated or standing. The mass of the people present, who incidentally were parboiled and half boiled illiterates could not and did not appreciate the act of the Honourable Chief Judge.


But the few discerning ones did. It was a coup wrapped in an ambush, totally unexpected, normally unthinkable, audacious, daring and a maneuver conjured creatively out of a constitutional void but executed with military precision.


At first, I was aghast at Justice Inumidun Akande’s conduct. Clearly her speech was a breach of protocol, possibly a rude slap in the face of political etiquette and correctness and a punch on the nose of precedent. Some may even argue that that short lecture of hers flew in the face of constitutionalism.


However on second thoughts, I realized that it must have been patriotic fervor and a burning passion for proper running of government that must have prompted the delivery of the “Great Lecture.”


On a rather personal note, I am immensely gratified that, it is not only minnows, pedigree-less lawyers like my humble self that now ply the route of activism and agitational politics, otherwise known as “aluta” but also those located in the deepest recesses of the conservative centre of the status quo.


No doubt in delivering that lecture Justice Akande breached protocol and there is some merit in the accusation that her style was strident, indiscreet, even confrontational, but how else do you get at least a reform of the system?


The quiet, gentle style hardly achieves the change agenda. The boat rocking approach is more the answer. Well Justice Inumidun Akande in delivering the “Great Lecture” has done the unprecedented and at the same time openly “reported” the governing caucus to the governed mass open.


Well maybe one should not be too bothered about conforming to the norm and precedent. After all it was Lord Denning, who in one of his famous cases declared…”And if there is no precedent (for our course), we shall create one.