'There They Go Again" By Adesina Ogunlana

I was one of several lawyers who went dutifully to Honourable Justice Gbajabiamila’s court on Wednesday the 3^rd October 2012. For we and our clients had business there. In my case my client was one of eight persons who have been facing trial for the past ten years for armed robbery. Thus for a whole decade his home has been the Maximum place, Kirikiri Lagos.

At about 9.40 am, the Registrar of the court and the only functionary of this particular temple of justice that was visibly existing in the court, cleared his sub-judicial throat and made the portentous statement:

“Gentlemen of the Bar. The court will not be sitting. The judge is dealing with N.J.C returns. Please listen as I call the cases for today and take dates.” The response from the Bar and gallery included the following: hisses, sighs of resignation, sheer indifference, fulminations, shock and bitterness. I personally felt cheated, humiliated and ill-used, considering that I had vaulted all the way from Isolo to the Mainland and shunned some early morning labours of love in a bid to make the court in time. It had been four months since we last came to the court and had high hopes that the trial of the matter would continue today.

Alas, worse was to come. When it was our turn to take dates, I told the Registrar that there was no need to get new dates since we had two more trial dates already fixed. But when I enquired whether the court would sit on the next given date which was just two days away (Friday 5^th October) the Vice-regal replied with a poignant and pregnant rebuke, “Am I the Judge?”

After a few minutes of waiting, I decided to seek the answer from the honourable judge himself, who should be in chambers, ostensibly very busy dealing with “NJC returns.” At the expense of holding his court.

So with a few other lawyers in the matter in tow, we made the short pilgrimage to the judge’s chambers. To see a judge, you need to pass through his secretaries and other staff. However we discovered to our chagrin that at 10.05a.m on this wonderful day, the office of the judge’s staff was firmly locked. The great men and women were yet to come to work.

We looked out for the judge, but the judex was certainly far away from the court. In the light of the foregoing, I beg to pose the following questions:

1.     Is it right or proper for “NJC returns” to supersede court sittings for the judge or magistrate?

2.     Where is the judge expected to be on a work day, when not sick or on an outside official engagement: home, office, church/mosque/shrine or any other place?

3.     Should judges deal with NJC returns at home or in the office?

4.     Why is it that the long period of vacation and the two or three weeks of indeterminable nature after the end of vacation are not enough for a judge to have dealt with NJC  returns?

5.     How fair is to lawyers, witnesses and litigants alike to make them come to court from all directions of the wind only to learn in the very court that the court will not sit, especially these days that most counsel file their processes with their phone numbers and e-mail addresses stated thereon?

 

Whether Lagos judicial authorities like to hear it or not, there is a clear culture of judicial impunity and inefficiency rampant in the system. For example only about a quarter of the fifty-five or so judges can be counted upon to be punctual in court or commence sittings within twenty minutes of an hour after 9.00a.m. Many others sit just when they like, if they sit at all.

At the dinner rounding up the New Legal Year, I thought I heard the Chief Judge tell lawyers present to feel free and enjoy the atmosphere they had the good luck of sharing with judges because “as from Monday, they will be at work and making Orders.”

But what I witnessed at the Justice Gbajabiamila court on Wednesday the 3^rd October 2012 was far from the picture of brisk industry, and bristling efficiency “Aunty Ayo” painted of our judges. And, that’s a pity. An unacceptable pity.