Saturday, December 5, 2009

‘VARSITIES ARE TO BLAME FOR SORE POINT OF LEGAL PROFESSION’


Background
OLUREMI Jacobs, the Chief Judge of Ogun State says law was not his choice although his father's influence took the centre stage as he was forced, to abandon English and drama which he had purposed in his heart to study.
Although Mr. Justice Jacobs who is perhaps the longest serving Chief Judge in Ogun State, would have ended his career as an artist following his avowed love for the Laureate Professor, Wole Soyinka, he
however, expressed no regrets studying law as the profession had not only gave him fame but ranked him as one of the best brains in the nation's judiciary.
He told the Nigerian Compass his foray into the profession he called the oldest profession in the world, this way: "I was born in Lagos in 1946.I attended St. Paul Primary School Lagos, thereafter I proceeded to Baptist Academy, Lagos.
After my secondary education, I proceeded to the most popular University in Nigeria, the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife then the University of Ife, thereafter the Nigeria Law School.
I must add that my father was also a lawyer and I didn't want to read law, I must be frank with you. I wanted to read English and Drama because I love Professor Wole Soyinka and Literature as well. I love to observe nature. I used to observe the trees at night, the sky and the stars. And all these are very romantic and they are in the line of arts. So I saw myself as an artist. So when my father said will you read law ? I did not like it. I only enter law in Ife and other universities, I put in for English and Drama and no other university gave me admission except Ife. So as time progressed I began to see that if you let go you see the hands of God in your life. There are a lot of things that happened to me while I was growing up. For example, my name is Remi Jacobs my mates in-school called me Remi J, you know Remi J means Justice Remi? In 1973 or 74, I don't know if you know Funke Adekoya (SAN) in Lagos, she called me Remi CJ and it was during my 60 birthday that she reminded me that "Do you know that I
used to call you Remi CJ?" What I am saying is that all these things are prophetic. If you are sober and you sit down there are times you will know when God is speaking to you. I want to say that although people believed that I was born with sliver spoon in my mouth because my father was a lawyer and my
mother was a big businesswoman and so on but the sliver spoon was not put in my mouth when I was born. I really think that it was God that put the sliver spoon later".

Choice of career
Let me tell you, I had to read law to honour my father's request. Shortly after I became a lawyer, I opted for work with the Cooperative Bank and the then General Manager of the bank, the late Chief Onagoruwa said, look go and start practice. I didn't want to practice because my father was in practice and I didn't want to work with my father at all. So I thought I should hide and work in a bank and the man who should have employed me was the one telling me to go and practice.
He gave me his old chambers and I moved in there and I found out after leaving law school that it is not easy if you want to be a good lawyer and then go into practice, you need to go and understudy respectable and professional lawyers. So I joined Odunlade for four months but I did not like the setting.
There was a time I came for a case in Abeokuta, if I tell you how I came for the case you will laugh. I had to handle a matter in Ibadan and it was urgent, it was a problem between the muslims and they said they were coming to disrupt service on Friday. So I went before the Magistrate's court to get an order to restrain them. The other side did not come to court and the magistrate said he was not going to grant an order unless he saw them. I had to go on a Wednesday so that I could get the order before Friday but we had a case for Wednesday at the High Court. So when I got to Chambers, my senior partner was so angry that he insulted me in the presence of litigants. So when I came for the case in Abeokuta, one of the litigants who was present when I was ridiculed by my principal, told the Magistrate that his lawyer could not come to court but sent his clerk. The litigant referred to me as .a clerk, and I conducted that case satisfactorily well and it was my brilliant performance that made a senior lawyer present in court to give me a job in his chambers. I was being paid N100 monthly whereas the senior lawyer who offered me job in his chambers paid me N100 a week, so I quickly jumped at it.
The deal also gave me the freedom to handle my personal cases. So that was how I started my practice here in Abeokuta and I was in practice for a long time till I became a Judge. So I will say that God has been faithful and I must say somehow, he directed me to read law.

Pupilage
I served under Odunbiyi. He also later became a judge. A complete gentleman, soft- spoken, very thorough and he have a fatherly disposition. He made things very easy for me that I did not regret working with him. With the benefit of hindsight I think it is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I don't know what may have happened if I had stayed back at my father’s chambers in Lagos I can not say

My father's chambers in Lagos
My lather died in 1988 but before he died I had made up my mind about what to do. So one of my father's junior took over the running of the chambers. He too is old now and don't go there again.

The Bar and the Bench
I will tell you that it is unfortunate; it is not only the Bar but the society generally. The standard is falling by the day. I remember one day a lawyer was in black jeans, nobody has to teach you if you go through the law school you have to embrace the culture. There is no more difference between the police and the Bar. When we were young if you see a magistrate passing by you had no choice other than to wait and have a look at him but now the reverse is the case.
In those days either a judge was in Chambers or not one was always afraid to pass by his chambers, even in the Ministry of Justice when junior lawyers sees a senior lawyer he or she would stand to greet the senior lawyer. But what do we have today? It has now reached a stage where the juniors would greet his seniors by a mere wave of hands; Oga how are you? In practice, one thing still stands out and that is decorum.
Some lawyers would come to court only to give the judge a fight but you give a judge a fight on law but not attitudinal type of disrespect to judge. The judge is a human being and he too will have to react somehow. The law is the oldest profession and it is also a noble profession many people have contested this and we have told them that look what God did first was to make the law. He said 'let there be light'.

Legal education in Nigeria
Like I said, it is a societal problem, standard is really falling. If you look at the authorities of the law school, they are trying very hard to improve the standard. Most universities in the country today are producing half-baked graduates. Sometime when you speak with some of them you will be disappointed. One very important aspect of the practice of law is the language. You must be able to use language to your advantage but today you found out that some of these lawyers lack education and to make up for it they now employ rudeness just to impress litigants. Unfortunately a lot of the litigants are illiterates, they look at the drama and they conclude that the man is courageous, the man is very bold. These are the areas I discovered indequacies and I am trying to see what can be done about it. There are different committees of the NBA where reports are being lodged so that some of these wrongs can be corrected.

Embarrassing moments
One day I was in the magistrate's court and there was a boy charged for wandering. He pleaded guilty but while the police were stating the fact of the case I discovered that they did not justify the conviction for wandering.
So I got up as amicus curiae, a friend of the court to defend this boy .While I was talking and the magistrate was writing, suddenly I discovered that some people were laughing behind me. Then I looked back and I saw the boy saying in Yoruba, "Se e ma bo mi ni "(Are you going to feed me?). I was just performing my constitutional duty but unknown to me the boy wanted to go to jail. It was very embarrassing because the magistrate, having agreed with my submissions that the fact of the case must sustain the charge even when the accused person had pleaded guilty.
TO BE CONTINUED…

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK…
...As a Judge
When I was handling the Gani Adams case, his lawyers came that I should give their client bail and the Ministry of Justice did not oppose the application, so why should I keep him in custody when those that should oppose the bail never opposed? So I released him and the police got angry and withdrew my orderly. By coincidence a week later I became the Chief Judge then the same Commissioner of Police that withdrew my orderly sent an assistance to come and control traffic leading to my house.
That was how he started sending people to come and talk to me. It was very embarrassing that because I did my job, you withdrew my orderly. God has a way of doing things as I was going to react by sending the accused person to be remanded in police custody when someone told him and he says "ha! let's go and beg him o" so he sent one of my closest friends to beg me. I always say something that this is not the power that is mine. Power belongs to God and I am holding the power in trust for God. I am very conscious of that, what I would not do as Remi Jacobs ,.I will not do it as the Chief Judge. I may be wrong but that is the way I see it.

Appointment as Chief Judge
I was not even thinking of any appointment all I was thinking about was my comfort. After my father died we had to start administering what he was doing, we're only two ;myself and my brother. The former Chief Judge , Justice Delana. when I was the chairman of the Bar Association we had a discussion on the Bar and when I was leaving he said Remi why don't you join us?
I said let me think about it, so he said I should go and think about it. I didn't even know how 1 was appointed all I knew was that one judge ask ed for my C.V and I suspected that that judge nominated me. The beauty of this judgeship is that you don't apply, you are appointed. So you feel the joy when you are appointed, it is a recognition of your rare qualities. It is- now becoming worrisome when people come to sit in front of you and say my lord I want to become a judge, how do I go about it? I think it has to do more with the situation in the country because some of these people when they see that practice is not moving on fine ,then the next thing is to say I want to become a judge. It is unfortunate because it robs the Bench of the best. The beauty of it is that you should be begged to come to the Bench. I have a judge I begged him to become a judge, I really begged him to accept the appointment. I mean that is the beauty of it.
There are things that I cannot tell you about this Chief Judge or no Chief Judge. You know there was this controversy here and there, we were two and I was the most junior and the other person was the most senior. While this thing was dragging on for a long time then at a stage Abuja said that look let's put a stop to this thing and there was a meeting in July where further deliberations were adjourned to October. But as God would have it, nobody remembered that the other person was to retire in August of that year while the matter was being fixed for a latter date. So by the time they were to meet in October it was only my name that was before them. As a matter of fact someone said that are you not lucky that you're the most junior? Four of us were appointed and I was the most junior in my set. So I knew that it was very likely that I will become the Chief Judge one day but not at the time 1 was appointed the Chief Judge. So if you look at it since 1 was the youngest all the others retired before me. Then will I say it is because I am brilliant? Or because I know how to do it? No, it is God.
And because I never lobbied for it or expected it when it came I was literally humbled. That day I was just saying God is this the way you do your things? Do you know that it was only a day before that day that the Governor saw me eye to eye? He told his aides to go and bring me as it will be embarrassing to swear in the number one man in the state judiciary without knowing him physically before hand.

As chairman armed robbery and fire arms tribunal
Let me tell you one funny thing about it. When I became the chairman of the tribunal, I became very conscious of the position and I prayed to God that my experience will not affect my decision. So the first person I sentenced to death, because there was no appeal against my decision I could not sleep very well. I was very much afraid that supposing that I wrongly sentenced this boy, his blood will be on my head and I became very restless.
However, the day the boy was killed he confessed. We have this saying in law that it is better for 99 guilty persons to go free than for one innocent man to be condemned. So man's judgments are still subject to God's review

Judges, threats and judgement
Not really because I am not afraid of anybody, in fact I dare anybody. There was this case I don't know whether to call it interesting or not, there was a boy charged for snatching a car. The lawyer who was the defence counsel was the complainant that gave the car out for sale but thereafter changed it to stealing. I almost believed him just as I had adjourned for judgment and my judgement was ready and I called my clerk and messenger, asking them to pray for me because of the decision I had taken in the matter.
So one day, a man wanted to see me desperately and I asked the policeman to come in with him and then I asked him what the problem was. The fact was that the lawyer of that accused had another matter before another judge where he gave the same defence. I had finished writing my judgment and I was going to discharge him so when I had what the man said, I sent my clerk to get me the case file. After
retrieving the file and discovered the same defence, what else should I do other than to convict him. My experience did not affect my job at all and fortunately for me most of them confessed before they were killed.

Judges, Magistrates performance in the state
Let me say this sincerely, I think that we are blessed in Ogun State. It is true because we are human beings we are not perfect but I tell you anywhere lam, I'm very proud of our judges. Before now, there were some doubts about one or two but as things stands today I can vouch for almost everybody on the Bench . Even there are lot of improvement at the magistrate’s court because for the first time Magistrates were given cars, it has never been so before. Judges are also having jeeps the magistrate's court because for the first time Magistrates were given cars, it has never been so before. Judges are also having Jeeps.

Ogun and other states
You see the thing is this, most states hid what they have. Most of the oil rich states are not more comfortable but we still thank God that there are some improvements. I don't want to compare because I was once accused of running down the former administration. I am a human being if you are nice to me, I have to acknowledge that you are nice to me. Otherwise even if you are not, there is God that sees everything. It will be very unfair for you to take care of me and for me to deny. The executive and the judiciary We have mutual respect. I think that in spite of what the executive has done for us that cannot affect our decisions. I must say again that we have a very cordial relationship. The Governor will not interfere in our activities. He will always ask, CJ are you all right? Let's face it we are human beings too.
10 years of judiciary in a democracy I will say that we have done our best and we will keep doing our best. You see the point is this, let's take a typical case one party on the right and one party on the left, one of the parties will always complain that the judge is not fair to them. We are used to that kind of things. The only thing is that once you do what is right your conscience is free. But don't forget one thing that the judge is a human being and we apply the law and the law is always right. We have two lawyers on both sides trying to persuade him and then he had to go along with one of them, he may be wrong and that is the reason there is appeal court , presided over by there persons who will then reconsider what one person has done. Then seven people will still sit to reconsider what they decided. One must be conscious that we are not perfect but what we will not be able to defend is what is glaring . For instance, when you say 2+ 2 =4 and you now say 4+ 4 =7, that is fraud. If a judgment is fraudulent you will know because it is like a building. You state your case, you put in your evidence and then you are building and all of a sudden the building started collapsing, you would definitely see that there is a problem somewhere.

Cases and their challenges
The Alake case because of the controversy that surrounded the case. At a stage I had to threaten parties with order of arrest. Sometimes a judge need to behave like a mad man, the case was very challenging but at the end of the day I thank God.

SANs and the court
No, you see if you are a new judge, may be you can be intimidated by SANs appearance but then as a judge, you must be the master of your court. The first thing to do when you have such a situation is to stamp your authority on the court. If you don't take control of your court that would be very unfortunate.
I once had a very funny incident long before I became the Chief Judge, not even a senior judge. I was in Ota and the court was full to capacity that day and a SAN got up and told another lawyer to shut up. Apparently foreseing an ugly incident, I came to the rescue of the junior lawyer by simply putting a stop to his excesses. I simply said 'I am here". So you stamp your authority. The SANs too are human beings, they will like to test your patience and your knowledge of law. At times they throw some nasty things at you.

Abolition of SANship
I don't support that because if you abolish, the title of SAN, what other title would you confer on lawyers who distinguished themselves? The only thing is that the process should be re-visited so that the awardees should be those who merit the prestigious title. So when you talk about SANship, the awardees must be highly cultured in their address to the court including their interpersonal relationship with the juniors. Above all a SAN must be a credit to the profession.
But the way it is going, some lawyers are saying the process is no longer transparent as it has become ' a man know man' affairs. However I want to say that the system is alright but if there is a fraud I am not aware. When you send your CV the secretariat would check the CV. Now the Privileges Committee will now cross-check the CV and this included the cases submitted whether they are correct. There is a boy that was disqualified because he used his father's judgment as one of the cases he presented.
We tried to do all that to ensure that the process is transparent. But people are saying that some people are influencing the process, this I don't know. What I know is that the people appointed are the qualified ones.

Attorney General Office and the Minister of Justice
I think the Attorney General of the Federation should be able to prepare his cases without any dictation from the executive. The AG decides cases that should go to court and those that should not go to court. Don't you think that when a matter affects the executive and he is a member of the executive, there is a tendency for him to say take it to court. The court should not be a dumping ground. I think that the AG office should stand on its own while the Minister of Justice who is a member of the executive should advise them on legal issues.
Culled from Compass Thursday, November 19, 2009