'A Lesson From Agbako' By Adesina Ogunlana

A few weeks ago we learnt from the newspapers of an interesting but tragic drama at the election petition case of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) against the President Goodluck “I am not a lion” Jonathan.


According to the papers the counsel to the CPC led two of his witnesses in evidence and had them cross-examined. The first witness was the chairman of the CPC. The second was the General Secretary.


As we all know, since 2007, the front loading of evidence method has been applied to election petition cases. With this method, a witness does not give oral evidence in court – his story would have been written down in a sworn deposition and submitted to the court and the adverse party.


The witness only need adopt the sworn deposition at trial as his document and presto, his examination-in-chief finishes. What follows is the cross-examination.


According to the papers, the statement adopted by the Chairman as his was actually the Secretary’s while the statement adopted by the Secretary as his was actually authored by the chairman.


These statements had been tendered and cross-examination had started in earnest when the CPC counsel realized the serious mix-up.


At this stage, counsel to the CPC applied for a withdrawal of the two documents tendered mistakenly through wrong persons.


Up sprang Chief Wole Olanipekun S.A.N the counsel to President Jonathan in opposition to the CPC application. The tribunal ruled in favour of Olanipekun.


I wondered at a lot of things in the above narrated case. One, why and how did the counsel to the CPC make the mistake of presenting wrong documents to wrong witnesses?


Two, why did the Chairman and the Secretary of the CPC “blindly” adopt statements not of their making?


Three,why did Chief Olanipekun oppose the application of the CPC to mend the regrettable error that had occurred? Could it be because the learned silk is merely a S.A.N (Senior Advocate of Nigeria awardee) and not a B.P.A (Best Practices Advocate awardee).


Four, why did the court reject the application of the C.P.C? Is that stance promotional of real justice in the case, or is it that the laws of evidence in Nigeria and the rules are rigid and inexorably so, like the laws of the Medes and Persia?


Five, would it not have been much more honourable and in accordance with the ethics of our much touted “noble profession” for President Jonathan’s lawyers not to oppose the C.P.C’s lawyer’s application since the factor of pure human error and inadvertence was at work?


Thinking about this case, reminded me of an incident in the famous Yoruba Classic, Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irumale by D.O. Fagunwa. In that story, Akara-Ogun the hero/protagonist,a doughty hunter was in a sure do or die wrestling contest with a fierce daemon ; Agbako (Calamity).


In the heat of the violent confrontation and much to his dismay, Akara-Ogun had his fighting hand or the very cutlass cut into two. Surely that was the end?


No! for Agbako merely took up the severed part, spat on it and joined it to the remainder and immediately both parts became whole again! ‘Now let’s continue the fight,’ said Agbako.


If, and I say so again, if a daemon could be so chivalrous in dire battle, why was such a height unattainable by Chief Wole Olanipekun S.A.N and his other colleagues, all believed in and paraded about in many quarters as about the best crop of Nigerian lawyers of this era, in the matter in question?