Sola Adeyemo 
Some lawyers at the event
Members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ibadan Branch, Oyo State, (which the human rights activist and fiery Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) described as “the premier of all other Bars in Nigeria”), have had their 2023 Law Week, charting ways for equitable, just, stress-free, accountable, and saner Nigerian state devoid of malaise and corruption. Led by Mrs Folasade Aladeniyi, the Branch, which last week carried out a series of enlightening outreach activities and lectures, also had the crème de la crème of both the judiciary and legal profession in attendance.
Egg heads
The Planning Committee, headed by Mr. Oladipo Olasope (SAN), brought together a galaxy of egg heads that x-rayed the socio-political and economic situation of Nigeria, charging all stakeholders to brace up and better its wellbeing.
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Among the eminent personalities that kept the week aglow at the Afe Babalola Bar Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan, were a retired Justice of the Appeal Court, Peter Olabisi Ige; the Oyo State Chief Judge, Justice Iyabo Yerima; Chief Akin Delano (SAN); Rtd Justice (Prof) Mojeed Owoade; Chief Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN); Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN and Chairman of the lecture); Prof. Adeniyi Olatubosun (SAN and VC, Kola Daisi University); the Oyo State Attorney General and Justice Commissioner, Abiodun Aikomo; Aare Isiaka Olatunji (SAN, Chairman, Egbe Amofun Odu’a); Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN); Adebayo Ojo (SAN), many judges of the state High Court and magistrates. Others included: Seun Abimbola (SAN) ex-Oyo Attorney General and Justice Commissioner; Prof. John Akintayo (ex- Ibadan NBA Chairman), Chief Mathew Adepoju, Justice T.M Abdulganiyu, (President Customary Court of Appeal), Chairperson of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Mrs Olusola Sulayman and Lanre Agoro among many others.
Campaign
The Branch members took their human rights awareness campaign to traders and drivers in the state, as well as, the Ministry of Lands and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) where legal experiences were exchanged. Falana, on the occasion, commended the Oyo State Judiciary for suspending the controversial preaction protocol which lawyers had kicked against; promising to ensure the same is replicated in Lagos State. He hailed the Folasade Aladeniyi-led executive for raiding fake lawyers, touts and impostors who operate illegally, rubbishing the profession. He likened the success of the raid to the incident of a fake Kenyan lawyer, Brian Mwenda, who had won 26 cases before he was recently arrested.
Falana said: “All the cases he had won will now be set aside for having been obtained through fraud”. The retired Justice P. O. Ige, who delivered the keynote lecture, berated the past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, particularly for the agony and peril which the Godwin Emefiele-led Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) afflicted on many masses of Nigeria through introduction of new naira notes last year. While commending lawyers and the judiciary for eventually saving the precarious situation which nonetheless led to the death of many people, the retired Judge, who spoke on the topic: ‘Giving Back: The Lawyer, His Practice and His Social Responsibilities’, in memory of Owolabi Afuye, flayed the “thoughtless introduction of new naira notes policy in November 2022, just few months to the general election when the Central Bank knew very well that the new notes were not available in banks to enable members of the public operate their accounts, and yet the old notes were prohibited as legal tender. Thank God, lawyers and civil society organisations came heavily against the policy. “The rich also cried profusely to the extent that some governors even approached the apex court to stem the tide of chaos and near anarchy that the policy engendered. The apex court saved the situation. Businesses and the economy almost collapsed, under the strain of the cash crunch. Parents found it difficult to feed their children and many died in the process. Workers found it difficult to go to work,” he lamented. Many matters surfaced in the course of discussions and comments by participants after the Monday lecture.
Among them were:
Nigeria’s financial status
The Oyo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Abiodun Aikomo, said that Nigeria does not have a lot of money, which is the reason the economic situation of the masses in the country is excruciating. However, Falana differed, insisting that Nigeria is not broke. While lampooning the Federal Government’s continuous culture of borrowing to the detriment of the masses when conversely, the political leaders are indulging in rabid affluence. “Nigeria is not broke. It is a lie. I wrote to the Minister of Finance about $34.2 billion which has been recovered by the NNPC. “It was money collected from the NLNG, the most successful business enterprise in Africa. There was no reply. And after my letter, an additional $1.1 billion has been paid to the NNPC Limited; the money is destined for the Federation Account, but the NNPC Limited hijacked it and we are going to collect it. There are others: we have some judgments and money that isn’t recovered from oil companies. “For 18 years, the government has engaged a team of accountants who came up with a figure of N62 billion. We also have to recover this huge sum from six international oil companies. Between June and now, the three tiers of government have shared about a trillion naira per month. By April this year, it was N655 billion and that must reflect in the living standard of our people. For instance, the Federal Government has given N35, 000 to every worker, what’s the state government giving? What of local governments? “And also when this regime came on board, Nigeria was barely producing one million barrels of crude oil, but today, it is 1.7 million barrels of oil at 100 dollars per barrel. There is no basis for poverty,” Falana fumed.
Death penalty
According to the human rights activist: “Death penalty is useless. Evidence has shown all over the world that the death penalty is not the best solution. In fact, some leading countries in the world today, like Poland, Netherlands, have gone on to abolish the death penalty from their laws. What they are doing is to address the welfare of their people. Scandinavian countries have the best welfare policy in the world. So, if you have a very good welfare policy, why will you go and commit an offence unless you have a mental problem. “But what do we have here? An armed robbery criminal, who killed a person, was sentenced to death, and having spent about five months in the condemned cell, a governor came and granted him executive pardon. He went back to his community where the family of the deceased are. How do you think that family will feel? What purpose had the death sentence served?” he asked.
Governors’ portraits
Hanging the portraits of governors in courtrooms, Falana said, is anomalous and illegal. This is because justice is not only done, but must be seen to have been done. “President Olusegun Obasanjo sued me because he wanted to go to the United Nations as Secretary General. Late Gani Fawehinmi was my lawyer. I said there was no single proper person for that post. Obasanjo lost and he then sued Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti and myself. We pleaded justification that he was not qualified for that position. “On the day of trial, I said this case would not go on. Chief Obasanjo was already in the witness box. I then said: ‘My Lord, behind you Sir, there is a Military Governor staring at your head, intimidating you menacingly. So, my Lord, you cannot go ahead with this trial. We cannot get justice in this court. We are supposed to have a Coat of Arms there and not the picture of a Military Governor’. You know what happened? There was so much tension in the courtroom and the Judge said: ‘The court will rise’. “Gani said the court had better rise. In less than 48 hours, all the portraits of the military governors and the Head of State were removed from the courts. So, we must go back to that history,” Falana said.
Screening of applicants for the bench
Considering the fact that many stakeholders complain that some Judges are corrupt, Falana opined that the onus of ridding that menace lies with the NBA. To him, if the NBA in any branch failed to screen any applicant for the post of a judge or give sincere and objective recommendation, and such a judge misbehaves later, the NJC should not be blamed. He argued that before any applicant is appointed, the local NBA would have been contacted to give its recommendation. If the body is pretentious because of affiliation or favouritism, the Judiciary would continue
