Vol 8 No 18 25th Feb 2008- Lawyer in Soup: Docked Over Forgery of Court Document

LAWYER IN SOUP – DOCKED OVER FORGERY OF COURT JUDGEMENT
It is not a common sight to see legal practitioners in the dock of a court room. Their favourite perch is at the bar, pleading the cause of their clients and earning their fees. However, a legal practitioner, Obiorah Umeh Esq. forty-three years old had cause to face a court of law, on January 29, 2008 from the centre of the dock as an accused person. That court is Magistrate Court 3, Ikeja.
Alongside one Mr. Daniel Nwarienne, the barrister was arraigned on a three count charge of conspiracy to commit forgery, forgery and willfully making false claims in Charge No. MIK/C/06/2008. There are two immediate striking aspects of the case. First is that Obiorah Umeh’s co-accused is a client of the lawyer and secondly what the duo allegedly conspired to forge and allegedly forged was, of all things, the judgment of an Ikeja High Court in favour of Daniel Nwarienne delivered in April, 2007 (See cover story exhibit).
In that case, Suit No. ID/165M/2004: Daniel Nwarienne & Or Vs IGP & 6 Ors. Honourable Justice O.H Oshodi found that the defendants (except the 3rd) had violated the constitutional right of liberty of the applicants and awarded the applicants the sum of N100,000 jointly against the 1st 2nd 4th 5th 6th and 7th defendants jointly and severally.
Unbelievably, this happy development was to lead to unhappy consequences for the 1st applicant in the suit, Daniel Nwarienne and his lawyer Obiorah Umeh. Inner sanctum geckos informed the squib that several months after the judgment in the suit was delivered, precisely on the 25th day of January 2008, a certain barrister turned up in Honourable Justice Oshodi’s court requesting to meet with the registrar. The gentleman barrister was not Obiorah Umeh Esq. but he said he had come to verify and certify a judgment of the honourable court in Suit No. ID/165M/2004.
The registrar who attended to him straight away noticed that the copy of the judgment in question brought out by the lawyer had a signature different from that of his boss, Oshodi J. When he told the lawyer his observation, the lawyer demurred claiming that there was nothing wrong with the judgment in his hand. The registrar however insisted on his point, a position which irritated the lawyer greatly. The argument soon became loud and then hot since neither the registrar nor the lawyer would yield ground. To the greater annoyance and bewilderment of the lawyer, the registrar upon closer perusal of the judgment found that the sum awarded in favour of the applicants was five million naira!
If the registrar was in any doubt before that the judgment the lawyer brought was ‘genje’ (fake), such doubts vanished immediately. Yet, the lawyer insisted that the registrar’s claim could not be right. At that point, it was decided that the best thing to do in the circumstances was to draw the attention of Honourable Justice Oshodi to the situation. When this was done, the judge, stared in the face with the brazen forgery of his order and signature wasted no time in bringing in the police. The police arrested the lawyer who appeared, and to some geckos trully embarrassed and very bewildered at the turn of events. According to out-field geckos, the lawyer explained to the police that he was innocent of any crime, as according to him, the document he came with was given to him by Mr. Daniel Nwarienne. According to the man, Nwarienne had told him that the judgment in turn was given to him by Barrister Obiorah Umeh, his lawyer in the fundamental right suit before Honourable Justice O.H Oshodi.
The police allowed the lawyer to put a call to Nwarienne who he asked to come to the police station to clear him, since he was only helping him (Nwarienne) certify what he believed was a valid court judgment in his favour.
At first, the police doubted whether Nwarieene would show up. But the man came and was promptly arrested. When he corroborated the detained lawyer’s story, the lawyer was eventually let off the hook.
But another lawyer was soon to replace him in detention - none other than Obiorah Umeh. At the end of their investigations, the police believed that both Nwarienne and Umeh are culpable of forging the judgment of Justice Oshodi and had a common intention to achieve that end. Upon his arraignment before the court of law, Barrister Umeh was granted bail by the court. Unfortunately, the gentleman stayed for some time at the Government Lodge, KiriKiri, eating the ‘king’s rations’ before his bail was perfected. The next hearing date of the case is 26th of March, 2008.

Vol 8 No 17 18th February 2008 'DEBRANDING THE NBA'

DE - BRANDING THE NBA – EXPOSING THE MAKURDI NEC AGENDA OF AGBAKOBA S.A.N
If the present leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association have their way, elections into offices in the association would never be the same again.

In the association there are fifteen “National Offices to wit - president, 1st Vice - President, 2nd Vice - President, 3rd Vice - President, Secretary, 2nd Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, Publicity Secretary, Assistant Publicity Secretary, Welfare Secretary and Legal Adviser.
Before 1998, the elections into these offices were General, that is, all interested members of the association were eligible to vote for all those eligible to contest in any of the offices.

However, after the protracted crisis that plagued the NBA for six years following the scuttled elections in 1992, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the general nature of the plebiscite was changed to make the elections a delegate one. Under this arrangement, voting is carried out by accredited representatives (delegates) from each of the branches.

Another fall out of the 1992-1998 crisis was the emergence of political regional/tribal blocks in the Association. Hitherto, the main divide was along ideological lines, the so called progressives (or activists) and the conservatives. Some watchers and historians of the lawyers’ association believed that the emergence of WAZOBIA formations i.e. North, East (South) and West in post 1998 NBA was due to the perception in some quarters that one of the causes of the 1992 crisis was the overbearing influence of westerners (South - West lawyers, mainly Yorubas) in the leadership of the NBA. According to members of that school of thought, majority of the past leaders of the NBA were Yorubas, a development said to be upsetting to other groups, particularly Northerners, notwithstanding that, Western Nigerians were exposed earliest to Western and legal education and were vastly more in numbers in the law profession especially in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and even up till the 80s than other groups of Nigerians.

The concomitance to the emergence of regional/tribal blocks was the emergence of the idea of rotating the prime leadership of the bar, to wit, the presidency among these groups, so that contest into the West would no longer become an-all-comers’ affair. However, another school of thought believed that the idea of rotating the presidency of the NBA ironically was started and championed by the Western regional group under the auspices of the unrepentant irredentists group - Egbe Amofin Yoruba, based in Ibadan, under the leadership of Chief Bamidele Aiku S.A.N went, for cheap political gains and immediate narrow calculations. It was the Egbe leadership in 2000 who negotiated with the leaders of the Eastern Group that, it should be agreed that if Wole Olanipekun S.A.N, a Yoruba and a leaders presidential contestant should step down for O.C.J Okocha S.A.N, an Easterner so to say, then the presidency should go to the West in 2002 and the North should have it 2004.

In the 2000 presidential election there were only three contestants – O.C.J Okocha, Wole Olanipekun. Both Onakoya and Olanipekun are Yorubas. At the end of the day, Olanipekun stepped down and out of the race while O.C.J Okocha went on to defeat Segun Onakoya and become president.

In the 2002 elections which took place in Ibadan, the contest was only between two persons, Onakoya and Olanipekun again, both Yorubas. Olanipekun roundly defeated Onakoya with over whelming support from the East and the North which had apparently bought into the Zoning Formula.

Consequently the 2004 presidential elections, had three of the four contestants as Northerners, to wit Bayo Ojo (Kogi) J.B Daodu (Kogi) and A.B Mahmond (Kano). The firth contestant was an Easterner, Philip Umeh, the Former Secretary - General in 2000-2002 under O.C.J Okocha. The outcome of the election was that Bayo Ojo S.A.N, though a Yoruba complied as a Northerner, while Philip Umeh not only came out last but being an Easterner was derided as an odd man in the election. If the 2004 elections left any one in doubt that the “Zoning Formula” is now an active reality in the NBA, the 2006 elections dispelled any such doubts.

In the 2006 contests, there were only three contestants: Olisa Agbakoba S.A.N, Chris Uche S.A.N and Funke Adekoya S.A.N. Funke Adekoya, a Former 1st Vice – President of the Association and obviously good leadership material came a dismal third position essentially because she was perceived as flying against the arrangement amongst the Regional/Tribal blocks that in 2006, it was the turn of the Eastern Region to produce the president of the NBA.

Before Olisa Agbakoba, the winner of the 2006 presidential contest came on board he had during his campaigns stressed vigorously severally that he would re-organise or revarying the NBA as a professional to make it much more dynamic, efficient and more modern. He had a beguiling catch-phrase for this all important project of his – RE- BRANDING.

Unfortunately more than half through with his tenure as leader of the NBA, the much touched re-branding of the NBA promised by the man dubbed by this magazine as a “ velvet activist” way back in 2006, has not happened. In failing to achieve the amendment of the constitution of the NBA that would pave way for the much advertised administrative wizard in form of Chief Executive officer for the association the NBA has not undergone any in rotating only the presidency of the NBA among regional/tribal groups, Agbakoba is very much interested in extending the rotation virus to half of the available offices of the NBA.

The road to the implementation of this objective started in earnest at the 2007 November NEC meeting of NBA Maiduguri where a guided and depleted NEC allegedly adopted the “policy of inclusion in relation to election of National Officers.”

After the alleged adoption of “inclusion policy” the softer language for zoning formula, by the NBA NEC, the NBA president constituted significant and positive administrative overhauling under Agbakoba. Any changes in the administration of the NBA has only superficial, tangential and a more out – fitting of existent positions to Agbakoba’s tribe of loyalists and followers. Curiously, Agbakoba who many used to take for an activist or even a subscriber to radical politics appears determined to rebrand the NBA by debranding as a Nationalist Organisation and making it an association where leadership opportunities are to be shared out more on the plat forms of regionalism arm tribalism than on merit. While his post 1992 predecessors in office were only content aid wrongly too, a 25 - man Commitee to work out the modalities of actualising the policy.

At a meeting held on 5th December, 2007 in Abuja, the Abudullahi Ibrahim SAN inclusion policy committee resolved that

(a) there will be six (geo-political) zones in the NBA for the purpose of elections

(b) Six out of the fifteen offices in the NBA at the national level would be open to rotation among the six zones.

(c) the 6 affected offices are President, 1st Vice – President, 2nd Vice – President, 3rd Vice – President, General Secretary Assistant General Secretary.

(d) The ‘Inclusion Policy’ will start from 2008. The West will take the Presidency.

See Chart I (2008)

(e) The Presidency alone rotates anti clock wise while the other five posts rotate clock wise on the given chart

(f) Where a post zonal to a particular zone, the zone may adopt a member of that zone as their preferred candidate even where such a person works or lives outside the zone.

In setting up the Abdullah Ibrahim Committee, the president issued them what he called a working paper, authored by himself. In the working paper, Agbakoba asserted without any arguments whatsoever that the Inclusion Policy would help make NBA elections more professional, less expensive and less tedious, as well as make the NBA grow.
Critics of the Inclusion Policy do not share the rosy views of the NBA President and many are determined to come to the Makurdi meeting to scuttle the Inclusion Policy. The first criticism against the Inclusion Policy as firmed out by the Abdullahi Ibrahim Committee is that it is too extensive, affecting as it were a whopping six offices, with the effect that very many aspirants into the offices in the miniature 2008 elections are already locked out.

For example, under the Inclusion Policy, any South Westerner interested in contesting for the post of Secretary of the NBA would have to wait for the year 2012 to hope to actualize his dreams, while in the same year 2012, no candidate from the North Central can even contest in any f the six zoned offices.

A longer look into the prescriptions of the Committee can only yield more distressing discoveries. Undoubtedly, if the Inclusion Policy of Agbakoba is accepted or forced on the association, the policy can only serve to promote balkanization of the NBA along tribal lines, while promoting and glorifying nepotism based on tribal or regional sentiments above quality and merit, since otherwise competent candidates are excluded from certain electoral contests because their organs made them presently ineligible.

It is also feared that the Inclusion Policy will necessarily demoralise otherwise active members from purposeful contribution since their individual yearnings to serve must first of all be conditioned to an artificial appropriate time allocated to them to present themselves for service, which oft times would differ from when they are actually ready and willing to serve.

How the Inclusion Policy will make the NBA elections less expensive and easier to run remain a baffle to the critics. This is because under the policy, candidates would still need to be voted for by voters outside their zones and so would still need to criss-cross the various zones and branches in search of votes.

Critics also wonder what informed the choice of posts adjudged fit to be zoned and those adjudged otherwise. For example, could it mean that an office such as that of the 1st Assistant Secretary-General slated for zoning is more important than the Financial Secretary, Welfare Officers, Publicity Secretary, Treasurer etc!

As far as this magazine is concerned, the Inclusion Policy of Olisa Agbakoba S.A.N is an ill-wind that will bear the association no good in the immediate, near and far future. It is too artificial, unnecessarily, complicated, narrow, undemocratic, schism promoting and merit denoting to be allowed to stand.

If the seemingly innocent “zoning formula” patented by tribal and regional irredentists in 2000 can grow to a monstrous dimension of ‘INCLUSION POLICY’ just eight years later, one wonders what destructive ogre the INCLUSION POLICY of Agbakoba would have turned to in 2015.

A professional Nigeia ought to be forward looking and show the way in what binds us together as Nigerians and not what highlights our differences.

Let those who have ears hear!

"The Death of Baba Kess"

KESSINGTON J., JUDGE MOST UNUSUAL, PASSES ON

On 30th January 2008, the earth opened one of its uncountable months and swallowed up the remains of Abiodun Nuraini Kessington in far away London, United Kingdom. Kessington a retired judge of the Lagos State High Court was born on the 6th April 1932 in Lagos.

From all indications, it was a quiet burial for the late Judge in London. If the event had taken place in Lagos his home town, the burial certainly would have attracted quite a large turn out of friends, relatives and sympathisers, particularly from the legal profession.

Kessington I never became the Chief Judge of his state and spent only seven and a half years on the Lagos Judiciary, yet he lived and died a legend of sorts.

Born in Lagos, young Kessington, had his secondary education in Port-Harcourt from 1947-1950. He later had his legal training at the Holborn College of Law and Commerce, University of London and was called to the English Bar, Middle Temple, in December 1964. In 1966 he was enrolled as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
After working for six years as a Prosecutor in the Compliance Inspectorate of the defunct National Provident Fund (1967-1973) as a State Counsel, Kessington Esquire (as he then was) joined the Rivers State Ministry of Justice as State Counsel and remained there until 1982.

In 1982, Mr. A. N Kessington reported to the Lagos State Ministry of Justice as Assistant – Director Public Prosecutions. According to the man himself, he was frustrated out of the service of the Rivers State Government, when the authorities refused to appoint him Director Public Prosecutions, Rivers State because he was not an indigene of the State.

Intelligent, brash, extremely extroverted and industrious, it was not long before the Kessington persona become known at the Ministry of Justice Lagos. The Squib spoke with two of those who worked with the late judge in his time at the Ministry of Justice and both were full of superlative praises for “Baba Kess.”

According to Mrs. Tola Akinsanya now a director in the Ministry of Justice Lagos, Kessington was a model boss who knew how to get the very best from his subordinates. Said Akinsanya: “I was very sad to learn of his (Kessington) death. He was such a wonderful man. He was very plain, had no pretences and was very approachable. He was not like some bosses, subordinates could only relate with him formally and officially. Kessington was not like that. You could go to him with any problem at all and he would do his best for you. He was always encouraging us to continue working hard, despite our little pay.

He was also very hard-working and intelligent. He taught us how to work with dispatch. Under Kessington no case file can stay on your desk for a week. And one other thing; he loved to help the down-trodden, the under privileged. I remember a time when the police was in the habit of arresting people at bus-stops for no just cause and charging those who could not ‘settle’ them to court for ‘wandering.’ There is a name they used to have for it – “Roger” or something. One day Kessington went to town in disguise and stayed at a bus- stop. He was arrested by some policemen. It was at Pedro Police Station Somolu when they were negotiating his freedom with him, that somebody noticed that the victim was the DPP Lagos!”

Another director at the Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Efunbo Gbadebo, also a Former Director of Public Prosecutions, shared Akinsanya’s sentiments on Kessington J. According to Gbadebo “Kessington was a jolly good fellow, erratic though but lively and very willing to impart knowledge to younger people. He was a very good man but people misunderstood him because of his tomboyish nature. He would never allow younger counsel to be cheated or oppressed by anyone. Any time you greet Kessington he would answer thus, “Olorun wa O! (literally, Eh, God is watching you).

His friends cut across all levels - the mighty, the middle class and the lowly. As for brilliance, he had it. He had the Evidence Act on his finger tips and was a Master of Criminal Law. Very jovial, he was an “agbalagba Omo ta.”

Credible information has it that it was not easy for Kessington to cross from the bar to the bench - some V.I.Ps considered him too obnoxious a fellow to merit a place there. But Kessington, due to, some say, connections with the military (which was in power then) got elevated in October, 1989.

It was not long upon becoming a judge that counsel and litigants knew that a sharply different type of judge had come to the “Throne of Judgement.”

A loquacious, impetuous, brutally frank, even irreverent, albeit intelligent judge, Kessington became known as a “peculiar mess.” He appeared to detest the haughtiness and the urbane pretentiousness of many legal practitioners and took a special delight in tearing away at any pomposity in wig and gown.

On the Kessington style of adjudication, a very senior counsel at the Ministry of Justice, had this to say:

“Kessington did not like to waste time and wanted justice done. So he went straight to the heart of the matter at hand. If for example there was a case of indebtedness before him he would not have time for lawyers’ talk and legal finesse. He would just ask the defendant:
"Hen, hen Mr. man are you owing?" If the man answered in the positive, Kessington would now ask him, "when and how are you going to pay?"

There are very many stories about the antics, or do we say “performance” of Kessington as a sitting High Court Judge - how he could recite the whole of Evidence Act off hand, how he regularly poked fun at Senior Advocates of Nigeria, whom he used to dismiss as “San-San,” how he almost sent the revered legal colossus, the late Chief F.R.A Williams S.A.N to prison for contempt, his open love and admiration for Chief Fawehinmi, then a Junior Advocate of Nigeria, his rancorous quarrel with his Chief Judge, Ligali Ayorinde, whom he threatened to beat up, his contempt for lawyers that came to his court poorly prepared; but two of the numerous stories, adequately portray the true figure of Kessington as a judge.

It was in 1993 and Kessington J was hearing a divorce case. The husband was the petitioner and the wife, the respondent. The petitioner was asking for the custody of the only fruit of the union, a boy. The wife filed her reply, opposing the petitioner’s prayer for the custody of the boy, on the ground that he was not the child’s father. In her affidavit, the woman claimed that while still living with the petitioner, another man impregnated her, resulting in the boy.

Kessington J, called the parties and their counsel to his chambers. Waving the respondent’s affidavit, the judge accused her of being a wicked woman who wanted to destroy the future of her son by swearing to such an affidavit. Then in front of everybody the judge unabashedly started to weep! Amidst his tears, Kessington asked the woman.

“Why did you do this? God will punish you. Is the fu…g you were having that intoxicated you so much, that you put your stupid act down on paper in court? Don’t you know in the future, when your son wants to attain a lofty height, his opponents can get hold of this affidavit and ruin him?

After gaining a little control of himself, Kessington advised the woman to file a new affidavit to replace this “bad one which I will personally destroy.”
Despite Kessington’s urgings, the respondent refused to withdraw the counter-affidavit. Kessington J now sent the case file to the Chief Judge who sent it back to him and ordered him to continue with the hearing of the case.

But Kessington J would do no such thing. Before adjourning the matter sine die, he declared:

“I am an African man I will never be a party to the destruction of families. I am adjourning this matter till when Jesus comes back. Since it is about 2000 years now, they’ve been saying he will come back and he has not done so, you know what that means.”

On another occasion, Kessington himself disclosed to a group of lawyers thus:

“You see one day two brothers were fighting over a piece of land, and the case to my court. I know both of them from childhood. Then the elder approached me to grant an ex-parte injunction against his brother, I did but the younger brother did not obey my orders not to enter the land. He said Nuraini cannot send me to prison, we used to drink beer together. Then his brother came back to ask me to commit his brother to prison for contempt. I told the older brother, you are mad. So it is me that will send your brother to prison? And later his children will see my children and say it was your father who imprisoned our father? Please, if you want him in prison, better pack him there yourself! Get a wheel barrow and dump him there by yourself!”

Abiodun Nuraini Kessington is dead. He died an imperfect man. Nobody is perfect. He had his foibles. He made his mistakes. But essentially he was a justice-minded judge.
May his jovial and kind soul find peace with his Maker. Adieu, “Baba Kess.”