Mr Adesegun Mohammed Ajibola (SAN)
and son of former World Court judge, Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN). He cut
his legal teeth in three law firms in England before joining G.O.K Ajayi
& Co, Lagos. In 1993, he joined his father’s firm, Bola Ajibola
& Co, Lagos, where he is presently the Managing Partner and Head of
Chambers. He was made SAN in 2011 after 21 years at the Bar. He tells
JOSEPH JIBUEZE how his father influenced him to read law, how to ensure
speedier justice delivery, and sundry national issues.
It must be a huge responsibility to be the son of Prince Bola Ajibola
(SAN), a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, a former
President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and a judge of the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague.
Mr Adesegun Ajibola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was born in 1963, a
year after his father was called to the English Bar at the Lincoln’s
Inn, having graduated from the Holborn College of Law, University of
London.
Coming from such a family, Ajibola said people expect a lot from
him. It is also not surprising that he chose to study law as a young
adult, having been influenced by his father‘s successful career. “It is
impossible for an animal not to be influenced by his environment, in
particular by his forebears,” Ajibola admitted.
“If you see a man behaving in a particular manner, most times they
ask you to check his background and his parentage. My case was no
exception. I grew up knowing my dad as a lawyer. Legal profession was
the second language in our home.
“Words like lawyers, courts, Nigerian Bar Association, conferences,
seminars and things that had a bearing on the legal profession were
common themes in our home. One could not but be influenced by those
circumstances one found himself. I must confess that my influence came
from that background.
“In a lot of ways my dad was helpful in encouraging that I took that
line, being a line he had trodden successfully and in which he believed
I could find a future. With gratitude to God, I’m privileged to be born
into that environment which gave me the opportunity to be in the noble
profession that I have been in all my working life.”
But could he have studied anything else other than law? “Most likely I
would have been an artiste, a musical artiste, if I hadn’t read law.
When I say this to some people they laugh. I love music and I still do.
That was the direction that I first felt I was going to go.
“Another thing that I thought of when I was young was farming. I love
plants and animals. I’m amazed at how trees grow from saplings, and how
animals grow from birth. I love nature, astrology and the likes.”
Ajibola said people, even judges, expect a lot from him, being the
son of a former justice minister, but he said he is doing his best to
live outside his father’s shadow. For instance, it took him over 20
years of hard work to be made a SAN.
“I have grown used to those kinds of situations; people expect so
much from me. It is not uncommon. I expect that coming from that
stock, there is a level of quality that would be assumed that you would
have. But in most cases that is not always the case.
“Everyone has his own approach and ways of looking at things. I think
it is a bit unfair, but I understand perfectly why it is so, but I have
accepted it as a way of life and a cross I must carry. I live with
it as comfortably as I can, without letting it get to me much.”
Having practiced law for two decades, Ajibola is bothered by
allegations of corruption in the judiciary, and he would want to see
anyone indicted tried. He spoke against the backdrop of the practice of
retiring judges found to have violated their oath of office.
“Judiciary and corruption are two things that must never mix because
of the very crucial nature of the responsibility that the judiciary is
required to discharge. It is of a nature that cannot habour corruption.
It could destroy its entire fabric.
“On whether corrupt judges should be subjected to criminal trial, I
think there is a good point there. We have the anti-corruption laws
either founded in the EFCC Act, ICPC Act or Criminal Code. Judges are
no exemption from the applicability of those laws and the requirement
that they can be prosecuted if they are found wanting in that regard.
“I am one of those who believe that the first step in dealing with
the problem of corruption is the immediately relieving them of the
responsibility that they hold, and then giving an opportunity for the
law to take its course.
“I agree that they should go a step further, and that judges should
not be allowed to feel immune from the hands of the law, when in fact
the law does not allow for such immunity.
“If any judicial officer has been found corrupt, or has committed a
crime of any sort, either in his sheer capacity or otherwise, he should
be made to face the law like anybody else would do. I think it would
send down the right signal and encourage the deterrence that we want to
have.
“As soon as we begin to see such situations, perhaps we will see a
better managed judiciary and less corruption. However, I don’t think
there’s a society that is corruption-free, but we want to have it as
manageable as possible, so that we don’t have a breakdown of law and
order which can flow from a breakdown of judicial responsibility.”
Another area of concern to stakeholders is the very long time it
takes to decide a case. There are several instances in which trial is
yet to begin in criminal cases that were instituted against former
governors in 2007.
Most have been delayed due to the filing of one interlocutory
application or the other. Some have wondered whether such preliminary
applications should be done away with. What does Ajibola think?
He said: “Law in its application must have a process, and there are
procedure and rules which guide the application of those laws. However,
those rules and procedure are open for abuse by people who don’t have
the proper sense of responsibility. That is the aspect that we need to
deal with and arrest.
“We as lawyers need to tell ourselves the frank truth. We have
ethical standards; rules and regulations which guide our practice. They
do not encourage the idea of filing frivolous applications with a
deliberate intention of delaying the matter.
“But it is difficult to know when an application is filed for a
frivolous reason. It is the difficulty in accessing that intention that
gives room for the abuse that we talk about. How do you know whether in
sincere and honest sense the lawyer is not acting in the best interest
of his client, moreso when the steps he has taken are procedures which
the law allows?”
What does he think is the best way out? “We need to re-orientate
ourselves and appreciate the fact that at the end of the day we’re all
losers. It may work for you today, because you’re on this side of the
law. If tomorrow you find yourself on the other side, and the same thing
happens to you, you will lose.
“Encouraging that kind of approach to administration of justice is
something that will do no one no good at the end of the day. It may
help in resolving a temporary situation, but in the long run, we’re all
losers. Perhaps there is no other country that has as much causes of
delays in dispensation of justice as Nigeria, except as I hear, in
India.
“We need to evolve better arrangement which will be in place to curb
the excesses of some of us who abuse that process. I think it requires
a think-tank approach, as try to do regarding law reforms. The new
Lagos State rules came from the need to fast-track and reduce
bottle-necks and roadblocks in dispensation of justice.
“However, no one process is perfect. Any process designed by man
stands to be defeated by the same men. The same man who invented the
pencil invented the eraser. We don’t benefit from it generally. As far
as I’m concerned, we’re all losing.
“Once we can accept that as a platform, and get people to understand
that the failure of one is that failure of all, the sooner we begin to
approach the situation from a standpoint of positive and honest sense of
purpose. It requires a scientific approach in dealing with a very
fundamental problem which has bedeviled our system and is slowing us
down.”
Another provision in the rules that has caused delays is a case
that starts de novo (afresh) if witnesses had been called before a
judge is transferred, is elevated to a higher court, or dies and another
judge takes over.
In that case, witnesses would have to be recalled. Ajibola said this
provision too, needs to be revisited. “It’s difficult for a case no to
start de novo. One of the functions of the judge is to watch the
demeanor of the witnesses before him, not just listen to testimony
alone. He has to see that the evidence being given is given with
conviction, and in a manner which portrays the truth.
“It is difficult for a judge who has taken over a case and who has
not had the opportunity of watching the demeanor of the witnesses to
form a complete picture of the evidence that has been given. It will be
akin to vision without sound.
“I agree that it reverses the order and tends to delay the matter,
but in most cases where evidence had not been taken, the need for de
novo is not applicable. It’s applicable in most situations where
evidence has been taken. It will be unfair to expect a judge who did not
see the witness to have the complete picture and form an opinion as to
whether the witness is one of truth or of lies.
“It is that requirement to see that justice is done and transparently
done that gave rise to the de novo principle. When you compare the
injustice that can be, you probably find out that it is better to take
all the time that is required to achieve justice than injustice in a
short time.
“What I will be happy to see is that the aspect of the requirement
for trial to start all over as it is in most cases is restricted
strictly to aspects which evidence by witnesses have been taken, so that
whoever takes over assumes all the processes and procedural steps taken
before then.
“In this country where our approach to things is most times
questionable, once you have a witness come in once and give evidence,
getting him back most times to repeat most things he has said is a
problem. Situations change and influences would come in. Eventually some
people escape justice.”
