Nigerian lawyer, S. O. K. Shillings Esq., has written
an open letter to legal luminary Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, urging him to take
action to address the issues plaguing Nigeria’s legal system. The letter comes
in the wake of a controversy involving lawyer and author Dele Farotimi, who
recently published a book titled “Nigeria and the Criminal ly Corrupt Justice
System.”
In the letter, Shillings praises Babalola for his
distinguished legal career spanning over six decades and his significant
contributions to the Nigerian legal landscape. However, he also highlights the
challenges facing the legal profession, including allegations of corruption and
unethical practices by lawyers and judges.
Shillings cites examples of judges being compromised,
lawyers sending inappropriate text messages to judges during proceedings, and a
lawyer claiming that his chambers have the capacity to influence judges. He
argues that these issues have eroded public trust in the legal system and call
for urgent action.
The letter also defends Farotimi, who Shillings
describes as a principled and fearless advocate for justice. Shillings
criticizes the actions taken against Farotimi, including a lawsuit filed by
Emmanuel Chambers, Babalola’s law firm, and a referral to the Legal
Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC).
Read the full Open Letter to Aare Afe
Babalola, SAN, on the Dele Farotimi Matter below:
Dear Aare Afe Babalola SAN, I hope this meets you in
the right condition because even though God has granted you grace of wealth and
health, you are in a delicate level and must be managed.
You are highly blessed to have chosen a profession
that made you such a great person. With over 6 decades of practice, 37 of it as
a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the Guinness Books must create a record for
longevity of professional calling with distinction. It is not only long but
positively eventful. You have made lawyers and senior advocates, judges and
Justices and attorneys- general including the present Attorney- General of the
Federation.
Such is the beauty of your practice that I spent a
good part of year 2003 running from Victoria Island to your office at Iddo,
Lagos where I got to know Mr. Gboyega Oyewole (now SAN and former Attorney
General of Ekiti State by your grace). It was as serious as I was advised to
come to Ibadan. When I met you, you were exhausted and you gave me an
appointment for another day and ‘T-fare’ as the new generation call it. The day
happened to be the eve of Ikorodu Oga Day which I was the chief organiser as Secretary
of Ikorodu Oga Development Association then. I still came. And after waiting
until around 7:30, I was ushered in and reminding you of the appointment, you
simply told me to go to ‘Gboyega’ to start work and I was thankful like a
jackpot-winner. But between your office and Adamasingba stadium, something in
me told me ‘you don’t need the job; I will bless you on your own lane’. It was
a hard knock. I did not go to Oyewole (with all respect to him) although I am
still waiting for the promise from the God who has no wrist watch. But He must
have His reason(s) for wasting my energy before telling me that.
It will not shade the truth if I regard you as the
numero uno and primus inter paires in the Nigerian legal landscape. You are a
standard-bearer, a tone-maker and personification of the legal system in
Nigeria. Meaning, noblesse oblige, you take the glory; along with the blames.
It is your kingdom and fiefdom. Nay, from that vantage point, you are a
Nigerian leader on a special seat, like Pastor Adeboye and the like.
In both responsibilities, you have tried. ‘Tried’ as
we know is only a pass mark. You have the energy, the intellectual resource,
the clout, the space and the temerity to make an excellent mark. Baba, let me
tickle you on that other side. If I were ‘Afe Babalola’, I would have called a
National Conference with a prepared constitution for it to debate, spending the
money and showing the light. But you are only a leading commentator, Sir!
Back to Dele Farotimi. He was my classmate in the
university. He became President of the students union, LASUSU in an election
that I conducted. In those days, he called those who did what he is doing now
‘fist-clenchers’. He hated to be called an activist when he was one. Dele does
not keep quiet when he believes in a cause and does not mind standing alone in
his corner or damning the consequences of his actions, He has the gift of
oration with the capacity to call white, black if he believes so. He is not
among fist-clenchers who make noise all-day without purpose and sing aluta
songs as tonic for actions their forebears embarked on without result. He is
not loyal to anything except his cause. That is your nemesis Baba! Like a David
to a Goliath, check the catapult in his hands and ask yourself some important
questions if you realize that situation. Dele is a soldier that could cause
problem. If you ‘kill’ it, it will ooze out an unpleasant and nauseating odour.
Back to the law practice profession that you sit atop.
The nausea is killing. It is such a bad situation that retiring judges and
Justices complain of the rot. Even the incumbent Chief Justice of Nigeria,
Honourable Justice Kudirat Kekere-ekun recently came to Lagos and lent credence
to it blaming judges and lawyers for the low level of the integrity of the
Court. That is the Aborè of the Temple. Now, Olúawo is being accused. Dele
Farotimi is a wake-up call to you Sir!
Let me show you a short skit of the Temple from my
lens. Sometimes ago, I was in a matter where my clients’ house was demolished
by a man who claimed to have bought it. He was himself my indirect client. We
went to court and he offered to pay. My clients could not agree because it did
not meet their valuation and grief. He told me one day that ‘this money you are
rejecting will be received by someone else o’! Lo and behold, we lost and my
clients did not want to see me again. The fellow saw me later and told me that
he warned me. How will I prove that the judge was compromised? There have been
others after that. The one who ignored a letter from the Supreme Court about
the inauthenticity of a judgment and gave judgment for the felons, later threw
my town into turmoil, failed to hear a preliminary objection for 3 years, got
matters transfered from his court for not hearing them; has been elevated. I
just lost another matter yesterday. I could not even go to court because I
feared it could happen and I don’t want a situation that my emotion could take
over. I will send copies of pleadings and judgments to you Sir. How does it
feel when after losing a case, your client came calling and says that he knew
the judge received #1 million in two tranches and Registrar got #50,000.00 and
asked: ‘what can we do now?’ expecting that he could simply pay and the
judgment would be reversed?
If those ones (I mean such acts) are far from you, let
me remind you that the lawyer who was sending text messages to a judge while
proceedings were ongoing and in respect thereof and was caught so doing is
still in the profession and a leading light. I should also remind you Sir that
the lawyer who wrote that his boss and chambers have capacity to make judges do
their biddings has been sent away but the boss and chambers stand tallest in
the pecking order of the profession. Baba, that is the profession you
superintend.
Dele Farotimi’s book ‘Nigeria and the Criminal ly
Corrupt Justice System’ may seem to have maligned you and your chambers. But I
am sure that if you handle Dele’s brief and you recall that the Claimant was
once damnified with 30 million Naira cost by the Supreme Court with
uncharitable statements from the lead Justice of the case, you will not lose
the case especially when the onus of proving that all content are lies and the
integrity of the Claimant is intact is on him. Baba, you want to attend cross-examination
where all sorts of questions including the morality of fees for incorporation
and relationship with President and personal issues of nine-and-a-half decades
will come to fore. Even Angel Gabriel and Angel Michael will not risk it and
suffer the fate of Lucifer. You are immortal and should not wait to be tested
whether you are God or a Saint.
Baba, your ‘boys’ are taking Dele to LPDC. He was so
disenchanted with the stench that he retired from practice 5 years ago at the
tender age of 50. If I have the resources, I will call a press conference and
do same. Dele will not attend. And what disrepute has he brought the profession
into after the confirmation by no less than the CJN? It is not everybody who
has the strength of being tagged as a failure for not knowing how to speak to
judges. Clients consult behind their lawyers but you will feel them when they
start to advise you on motions and procedures. The clients underpay struggling
lawyers because they know that the real job is not theirs. Many take civil
cases to the police now. The profession is impoverished especially with
máshu-mátò Rules of professional ethics. Those doing it, the judges and
lawyers, are few but like the gall bladder of a fat cow, the small bile content
is enough to spoil the party.
By your actions on Dele, Emmanuel Chambers has already
stained its integrity. Baba, you mean you approve of a lawyer coming to court
on a charge of a misdemeanour and not being granted bail on self-recognisance
immediately? Worse still to be taken to the court in handcuffs? Then, in all
honesty, you want to set the precedence of complainant choosing forum? And also
multiplicity of cases and forums using the Court to wear out an opponent? I
shudder at the actions of those who want to prove to you that you have good
children who will not allow your name to be rubbished. They brag about their
knowledge of the letters of the law as if that is all Emmanuel Chambers has
taught them. They are doing the opposite.
May I, with utmost respect and reverence, suggest that
you call off all cases. You may simply tell us the truth of the matter that
Dele does not know. And, as Olúawo, call private meetings of the Temple and set
new rules of engagement and ‘worship’. Dele Farotimi is your prophet. Baba,
heed!
S. O. K. Shillings Esq.
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