‘Nigerian constitution needs surgical operation’

Before the commencement of political activities heightened, the National Assembly was on the verge of amending the 1999 Constitution. In fact, some people were of the view that such amendments should accommodate some of the vital issues in the report of the National Political Reform Conference, chaired by Justice Idris Kutigi. But that appeared to have been abandoned in the interim. In this interview, former chairman of the Lagos NBA, Abiodun Dabiri told GODWIN DUNIA that the entire process needs surgical operation, which the President-elect must not shy away from tackling. He also spoke on the appointment of judges, delay in justice delivery, conflict in the award of SAN, standard of legal practice among others.

Do you think there is going to be change in our constitution in this coming dispensation? The process of changing constitution is very cumbersome and the elected president has a lot to do. He has not promised anything, but when he get there he will see the rot that need to be cleared first because the whole place need some surgical operation.

He has won election, but to me, I don’t know where he will start from. Obama made lots of promises, but when he got there he was to some extent overwhelmed by the rot left behind by George Bush.

I wish Buhari case will not be like that anyway. Are you okay with the mode of appointing Judges? Honestly, you raised a very good question. I think in appointing Judges, preference should be given to integrity.

To appoint a judge, you need to ask questions and verify facts about the individual. But in this part of our society, for instance, if someone asks me about you now there is possibility that I would not disclose certain fact about you.

I will not want to block your chances. This is our culture and attitude and it will definitely come to play. Unlike in the Western world where a child would tell you; oh my father is a thief and even call in police to arrest him.

In this part of the world, nobody we wants to do that. Where do you lay the blame for cases of 10 years and above in the High Courts? Even in Supreme Court cases less than 7 years are not attended to. Justice delayed is justice denied! We, as counsel contribute a lot to this delays.
For instance, the case of Joshua Dariye, who was charged with certain offences. The lawyer started by challenging the charges. It took over seven years and the Supreme court was annoyed.

The lawyers contributed to all these kind of developments and the point is that they don’t take advice. It is what they want that they do. As a senior member of the bar, are you satisfy with the practice of the legal profession? The standard has dropped. You know in our own time, we don’t just go from the class to the bar.

What you read in University and law school is theory. To practice is a different thing entirely. The certificate you get from the law school is not for you to go straight into practice.

You need to learn the trade. You have to work under a senior lawyer where you understudy them for some years but these days, it is not so again. These are some of the reasons why the standard of legal profession is dropping. The new generation of lawyers don’t want to learn, they are in hurry to make money.

There are cases of Judges been attacked, for instance in Ekiti, where a judge was alleged to have been assulted and up till now no one has been arrested.

How do you want to react to these? We are even grateful that nobody was killed. Look at the case of the late Bola Ige, somebody was arrested as suspect, brought to court and at the end of the day the matter did not really have head or tail, no tangible result because everything was politicized.

Somebody is shading them up. The killer can never be found. It is a pity that Judges are not protected to do their job. Some Lawyers are clamouring for the abolition of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, as a senior Lawyer, what is your opinion on this? I don’t see anything bad in awarding privileges to members of the bar.

What people are complaining about is the method. There is nothing wrong in the award. You have to apply for it, but to me, I am not interested. I just want to be known and addressed as a lawyer and not an unnecessary attachment to my name. You see a lot of young lawyers today who don’t know much about the law been conferred with SAN not on the basis of merit but because they are connected.

You know in this our country, we don’t follow the rules in doing things even when they are spelt out. We don’t follow due process! Howdo you feel to see lawyers you trained accorded with the SAN title and their cases called before yours? I don’t feel anything wrong or bad. It had been done to me in any way.

The rule is that you have to apply and I did not. It is not that they did not give me. l know all the privileges they give to them but the issue is that I did not apply, I am not interested.

What are your expectations from the new President-elect as a Nigerian? What I want is a peaceful atmosphere. We want food, we want security, youth unemployment issue must be tackled and we want light because no economy can grow without energy.

But these are very tall order. Nigeria has money but we don’t have business with poverty if our resources are well-managed. Look at the issue of minimum wage, you pass a law to give N20,000 to a worker as minimum wage, how do you expect an average worker to survive with that compare to the way the National Assembly members are living, making millions every month? There is a great disparity! Do you think there is any reason for PDP to go to the Election Tribunal? No.

I think for the first time in this country, I have seen a credible and transparent election. All those ghost voters are not existing again with the introduction of the Permanent Voters Card ( PVC).

Before now, we used to have places where there are incredible numbers of voters and a lot of discrepancies. But this PVC has eradicated all these with the help of the biometric process.

No more over voting or over-registration because of the PVC processes and all the rest. Look at the numbers of voters compared to what we used to have when the system was so corrupt that somebody can vote five or more times. With the result of this election, it is clear that people can now say, ‘we are tired of this person, we want that person’.

Over the years, we have had cases where clients alleged that their lawyer duped them. There are also instances where lawyers are taking to court for defrauding their clients.

What do you feel about this? In our society today, we have bad ones in every profession. So, in situation like that, such should be reported to the appropriate authority for prompt actions.

Such should not be swept under the carpet. Our society is like that and these are product of the society. There are cases too, when a client will request the assistance of a lawyer to recover an outstanding debt and promise to pay the lawyer 50% of the money.

The lawyer will use his clout and at the end the day, he recovers the money and the client runs away with the funds. It has happened to me and I did nothing.

The Nigerian Bar Association has introduced stamp for lawyers. Do you think this is necessary? Yes , it is necessary because it will not allow a situation where there will be cases of ghost lawyers, if your stamp and seal is on every document.

The process of changing constitution is very cumbersome and the elected president has a lot to do. He has not promised anything, but when he get there he will see the rot that need to be cleared first because the whole place need some surgical operation

It is okay, at least to know those who are the proper lawyers. How do you see the administration of the current NBA president? I think he is doing his best. What is your advice to young lawyers who are just coming out of school on how to be successful in the profession? The first thing is to work hard like any other profession. You don’t need to be in a hurry. Life is a process, you need to persevere.