By Mustapha Ogunsakin
The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN.
The chairman of this occasion, Mr. Gbenga Oyebode MFR who I fondly call “My elder brother”.
The father of the day, My father, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, a distinguished pharmacist, former Minister of Health, and an astute lawyer! It may interest you to know the Prince obtained a First Class at both at the University of Lagos and the Nigerian Law School. The Prince is also a quiet philanthropist who visits the prisons yearly to offer free legal services to awaiting trial mates.
The lecturer of the Day, I call him “The Law and the Prophet, because he doubles as a Pastor of the Living Faith Church, Pastor Dele Adesina SAN.
My Teacher, Prof Hope Eghagha, who taught me English Literature at the then Ondo State University (now Ekiti State University) some 35 years ago. I consider myself fortunate to have remained connected with him all these years.
My Editor, Mr. Richard Akinnola, the man who taught me law reporting when he employed me as a cub reporter in 1992. As with Prof Eghagha, I remained close to the man who mentored me in the profession in which I’ve functioned in the last 32 years and still growing.
To our other panelists- Mrs. Joke Layi-Babatunde, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa SAN, Mrs. Asabe Waziri, and Mr. Olayiwola Sadibo, I say thank you for honouring our invitation to participate in this public duty.
There’s no gainsaying the fact that the Nigerian Judiciary and the entire administration of the Justice system in Nigeria has been a subject of concern and unpalatable commentary from the public. There’s no doubt that trust in the Nigerian judiciary has been severely eroded. A good number of stakeholders including the press contend that there are two sets of laws in Nigeria. One for the rich, one for the poor; a simple way of saying that in Nigeria there’s no equality before the law!
I started my career as a journalist covering the Judiciary at a time when the courts were in a crisis; when judges’ pay was ridiculously low; when the morale of judicial officers and court workers was nothing to write home about. It was a time when many judges had no roofs over their heads at retirement. In those days, what you see when you enter a court premises, particularly in Lagos, is a junkyard where all sorts of seized properties, including vehicles, littered the whole premises. Justice was dispensed in an unpleasant environment.
But a time soon came during an administration when the courts were given a facelift, the environment was cleaned up and new courtrooms built. New technology ensured better record keeping and registry administration. Judges’ emoluments were increased and they started living in owner occupier houses. Court workers began to earn living wages.
But did this translate to better dispensation of Justice? Did this lead to speedy conduct of cases, criminal and civil? Did it lead to better trust in our court system locally and internationally, that is, does a foreign investor in Nigeria trust the system to quickly dispense Justice, where conflict arises over their investments? The answer is NO. This means clean environment and increase in emoluments alone do not guarantee efficient dispensation of Justice in an environment where character is a scarce commodity.
Political cases are worse. Our election petition tribunals have become a joke. You will see courts of coordinate jurisdictions giving conflicting orders over the same cases. If an order came from Kaduna, another will surface from Calabar, throwing the whole system into ridicule. Orders even came from overseas!
Lawyers are also complicit in this charade and it has become a matter of knowing the judge rather than the law!
Ordinary Nigerians are worse hit.
Two instances come to mind that graphically illustrate what Nigerians go through in the dispensation of Justice. About two years ago, a defendant, an awaiting trial mate in a Lagos prison committed suicide within the premises of a Lagos Magistrate Court. The fellow was standing trial for stealing. Our investigations however show that he was an electrician who got a job from someone but delayed because of lack of electricity. Angry, the owner of the job got him arrested by the police which interpreted the case as a crime of stealing. He was arraigned before a court where without any hearing, remanded in prison custody and the case adjourned. He was in prison for the next three months before he had the opportunity to appear in court. When he got to court, he was hopeful that if his case was called, he would at least get bail. This was not to be as the case was not called before the trial judge adjourned. He would not get another opportunity for three months so he went back to prison. After another three months, he was brought to court. This time around, the judge did not sit. Lawyers and the prosecutors just took fresh dates. Determined not to go back to prison, the electrician threw himself from the third floor and died on the spot.
Another scenario was witnessed by us all during in 2020 during the #endsars protests. An iconic court building, the Lagos High Court, Igbosere was razed by a mob. We saw the horrendous images of the burnt building. The image that particularly assaulted one’s mind is that of one of the arsonists dressed in a lawyer’s garb – wig and gown, with a machete in his hand. For me, that is very scary imagery. The question that agitated my mind was why the court?
I remembered growing up in my pristine Ado-Ekiti. The court’s location in the town is a place everyone is scared to go. As young as I was then, I got to know that you don’t talk while in the premises of a court, talk less of hooting the horn of your car. We were made to believe that such misdemeanor could earn an offender an “automatic jail term”.
But here we are, the court that should be held sacred, some people were bold enough to set it on fire. For me, it shows that mistrust, and even hatred that some people have for the judiciary. It also shows that Nigerians do not see the judiciary, or its symbols as belonging to them. For many Nigerians, the court represents an instrument of oppression. They don’t see it as a place where they can get justice if oppressed. Their hope in the judiciary is almost non-existent.
The powerful people within the society, particularly the politicians do not help matters. Their popular parlance whenever any issue arises now is “go to court” suggesting that they control instruments of Justice and have the judges in their pockets.
Since the 2020 scenario, I was convinced that we must begin to restore the hope of the common man in the judiciary, and other organs of government. The alternative is anarchy, a sample of which was witnessed with the burning of the High Court at Igbosere. I also knew that if there are two professions that can lead this restoration, they are the legal and media professions — saddled with direct constitutional roles in the judicial system. While the role of the legal profession is statutory, the media has the responsibility to represent the people by covering and reporting court proceedings, except it has to do with national security or cases involving minors. That is why the Constitution made provision for a public gallery in every court where journalists occupy to report cases and disseminate news to the public.
Can we begin to look at the ways and means through which hope can be restored? How about making our courts truly open by advocating real media coverage, I mean video recording of proceedings where the constitution permits? How about holding members of the legal profession to minimum standards of making the country first even in the defense of their clients?
These are the questions before this august gathering. I know the journey is long, but we can at least begin the conversations of truly restoration of hope in these institutions ordained by God Himself. A country without justice will eventually descend into chaos.
Gavel International has over the years hosted lectures and conferences in pursuit of its guiding principle — Rule of Law. In 2015, Gavel International presented a book, “For the love of their Nation, Lawyers as Agents of Change in Nigeria’’ authored by the publisher, Mustapha Ogunsakin. It was a catalog of the contributions of about 50 prominent Nigerian lawyers to nation building. The public presentation of this book was done by the then Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo SAN. Others in attendance at the event include Mr. Eyitayo Jegede SAN, then the Attorney General of Ondo State, Chief Anthony George-Ikoli SAN, the first SAN from Bayelsa State and a former Attorney General of the State, Mr. Ade Ipaye and a host of others.
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic raged, it managed to host a stellar webinar bringing together some of the most brilliant minds across the country to discuss on the topic: “Media Coverage of Virtual Court Proceedings: Prospects and Challenges. Prof. Osinbajo delivered the keynote address and was joined by others like human rights activist, Femi Falana SAN, Bode Olanipekun SAN, Prof Chidi Odinkalu, and Dr Reuben Abati to discuss the topic.
As with these past discussions, I hope that our conversations today will be fruitful and make tremendous impact on the lives of Nigerians people, including stakeholders in the justice system.
I thank you all.
Ogunsakin delivered this welcome address at Gavel International Annual Lecture in Lagos on Friday November 29, 2024
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