Ramadan kareem
Dele Adesina SAN
(There would always be a repeat.
After this, you will have another event
There would always be a repeat.)
Pardon my crude translation of this Yoruba proverb but it was the best I could come up with in the circumstances. A major part of my growing up was spent supporting my dad who pastored our church (a quite small one). My church had a self-acclaimed master talking drummer who was always fond of playing with his talking drum the above-highlighted proverb, usually used to sing the praises of patrons and equally praying that such wonderful event would recur. Our talking drummer, however, met his ‘waterloo’ when he played this proverb with his talking drum at the burial ceremony of a 40-year old man who had died in a ghastly motor accident. The rest as they say is history! Such is the enormity of praise singing that I rarely embark on it as it could lead to the opposite of one’s intention. How else can you qualify the act of a woman singing “be thou exhausted” while trying to worship God? Her intentions of exalting God almost got Baba God exhausted. That’s on a lighter note, sure we know Baba God can never get exhausted.
Writing about Dele Adesina SAN, could sometimes be seen as praise singing by an average reader, but the fact is, one can hardly be immodest while talking about the learned Silk. William Hazlitt (1778-1830) famously noted that “the greatest offence against virtue is to speak ill of it.” You would never find me speaking ill of a man of virtue like Deacon Adesina SAN. One virtue has particularly stood out in Deacon’s interaction with people over time and this is the virtue of modesty. This coupled with his deep understanding of the tasks ahead of him makes him a stand-out candidate for the office of President of the Bar. It is not uncommon for him to use phrases like ‘by the grace of God’, ‘God willing,’ etc.
Against the background of easily the busiest and most challenging period the NBA and the world at large has seen in recent times, calmness and yet precision are unarguably key assets the next NBA Boss needs to have. *Talking about calmness, candour, precision, integrity, experience and capability, the learned Silk Adesina has them in abundance.* He is not flatulent (borrowing Prof Olu Obafemi’s word in the poem “Do Gooders”) and his spot-on answers to questions posed at him depict him as a reservoir of knowledge and as someone who is always prepared. His views on partnership as the future of the legal profession amongst other views depict him as someone who aptly understands the past, present and future of the legal profession. Bob Marley’s famous song title “Who the cap fits” is apt at describing the suitability of Deacon Adesina for this role. He is in the words of Confucius, the great one who possesses a perfect virtue resonating around ‘gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness.” He is who he is, the son of his father. I dare say that praise singing is hard afterall.
Since awaiting NCDC’s daily update has now become a routine, I hope and pray that Coronavirus will today afflict less Nigerians and indeed totally exit the world soonest.
I am Adeboye ‘Seye Thompson and I am a member of the Nigerian Bar Association.
Mrs. Bisi Akodu, the Managing Partner of O.A.L., died on Sunday, the 10th of May, 2020 at the age of 66 following a protracted illness which she fought with all her faith. She was an exemplary advocate, a passionate Legal Practitioner and a mentor to many subordinates. Her contribution to the development of our Jurisprudence and her impressive knowledge of the Nigerian Financial System was almost unrivalled.
It is an understatement to say that this hard-working, dedicated and committed Managing Partner will be greatly missed by her Families, both the blood family and of course her Professional family. It is our prayer that the Lord will give the Families the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
May her kind and gentle soul rest in peace.
Dele Adesina SAN
Mrs. Akodu was the Managing Partner (MP) and the head of OAL’s Corporate/Commercial Practice and Public Sector Group. She will be remembered as an advocate for change and for being an astounding professional and brilliant lawyer whose passion was always evident in all she did.
May her gentle soul rest in perfect peace!
Caroline Ibharuneafe, Mrs.
Past Vice – Chairman, NBA Ikeja)
#Integrity+accountability
As an active player, I want to state that the challenges confronting Justice Administration in Nigeria is systemic, structural and attitudinal in nature. For me however, the greatest impediment to impactful justice delivery whereby everyone involved will get value and fulfilment is an attitudinal problem. No matter how bad a system or structure may be, if the practitioners do the right thing, apply the right approach and take the right step, the effect of the inadequacy of the system and structure can be mitigated. This is why I am focusing on the practitioners.
Whether as an Advocate or a Commercial Legal Practitioner, the end that we seek for our clients is Justice, Justice, and Justice!!!
However, it is not an overstatement to say that the practitioners of the system either as Advocates, both private and commercial and Judges on the Bench erect various impediments to getting impactful justice. That is to say getting speedy justice that will fulfil the expectations of the people without delay and or procrastination as is the case in Nigeria today. It is common knowledge that cases last in some instance for as much as 10-15-20 years journeying from the High Court to the Supreme Court. Arbitration which throughout the world is known as an alternative dispute resolution is also failing to meet its target. Examples abound in Nigeria that arbitral awards are also gradually becoming a cause of action rather than resolution of a dispute between contending parties.
How about endless adjournments, frivolous applications, frivolous interlocutory appeals, frivolous petitions against opposing Counsel and even in some cases against trial Judges. All on the part of the Practitioners at the Bar. On the part of the Bench, you see negative attitude to innovations, late sittings or not sitting at all, lack of proper apprehension of the Rules and lack of the necessary will to enforce the Rules. These are some of the frustrating attitudes of the Practitioners in achieving positive justice. We have got to change this negative attitude if we want results that will be positively impactful to the users of the system. Everyone’s attitude determines his/ her altitude.
The Legal Profession is a highly regulated profession with a standard code of conduct to guide and moderate our operations. Unfortunately, it appears to me that like any other law in Nigeria, the enforcement of this standard code of conduct is less effective; hence, impunity reigns supreme. The time has come for us to begin to do things in a different way so that we can get a different result. Otherwise, the Profession will be gone before we know it.
To address these challenges mentioned above, proper attention must be focused on our disciplinary procedure in order to ensure that smart but procedurally wrong steps are made sanctionable. A Counsel who files frivolous suits must be sanctioned for failure to offer proper professional advice to clients. The same goes for Counsel who take pleasure in defending the indefensible. After all, it is a professional misconduct for a Counsel to urge a defence he does not believe in on the Court.
We have argued over and over again that interlocutory appeals be made to terminate at the Court if Appeal. For me nothing stops the total termination of interlocutory appeals so that whatever dissatisfaction against any Ruling should be taken together with the substantive judgment. Something similar to what operates in election petition cases.
Before anybody challenges any arbitral award, the challenger must be made to deposit the award into an interest yielding account. These I submit will stop many frivolous cases challenging a properly rendered award by an arbitral panel. Most of the cases are to exhaust the patience of the other party and render the award useless.
Our Judges must come back to the days of old of erudity and industry when Bench Rulings are delivered promptly in respect of contentious applications instead of the usual adjournments that we witness today on any little argument. It is said that an ignorant Judge is a calamity to the society. Of course, the Rules of procedure must be obeyed including award of costs in accordance to the Rules for any shortcoming by Counsel.
The Lawyers must hold their duties to justice as a minister in the temple of justice superior to any other duty by doing the proper thing most expeditiously.